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SOME  SUGGEST  ION vS 

TO  YOUNG  TEACHERS 


JOHN   RilBERrr  CSRECi-C 


GIFT  OF 


The 

Teaching  of  Shorthand 

SOME  SUGGESTIONS  TO  YOUNG 

TEACHERS  AND  OTHER 

ADDRESSES 


BY 

JOHN  ROBERT  GREGG 


THE  GREGG  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

NEW   YORK  CHICAGO  SAN   FRANCISCO 


c. 


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COPYRIGHT,     191  6,     BY 
THE     GREGG     PUBLISHING     COMPANY 


G89 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The  Teaching  of  Shorthand:  Some  Sugges- 
tions to  Young  Teachers i 

The  Art  of  Teaching  Shorthand   ...       31 

"  Tricks  of  the  Trade  "  in  Teaching  Short- 
hand       57 

Efficient  Stenographers:  What  Should  Their 
Attainments  and  Qualifications  Be  when  They 
Graduate  from  the  School 83 

The  Application  of  Modern  Efficiency 
Principles  to  the  Teaching  of  Shorthand     ioi 


4GU9/8 


THE  TEACHING  OF 
SHORTHAND 

SOME  SUGGESTIONS 
TO  YOUNG  TEACHERS 

An  Address  to  the  Students  in 

THE  Summer  Normal  School 

FOR  Shorthand  Teachers 

Gregg  School,  Chicago 


THE  TEACHING  OF 
SHORTHAND 

IN  teaching  the  theory  of  shorthand, 
as   in  teaching   all   other   subjects, 
there  are  three  main  divisions : 

1.  The  Presentation,  or  explana- 
tion of  the  lesson. 

2.  The  Application,  or  practice  of 
the  examples  for  the  purpose  of  deep- 
ening the  impression  and  developing 
skill. 

3.  The  Examination,  or  test  for  the 
purpose  of  ascertaining  the  results  of 
the  instruction  and  practice,  and  for 
the  guidance  of  the  teacher  in  assigning 
work. 

These  three  processes  are  closely 
connected,  and  when  properly  applied 
they  result  in  knowledge,  power  and 
skill.  In  each  of  these  divisions  you 
can  apply  an  infinite  variety  of  methods. 


4    :   Xk'^.  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

Let  us  consider  these  processes  in  the 
order  I  have  given  them. 


THE   PRESENTATION 

A  wide  difference  of  views  and  meth- 
ods exists  in  regard  to  presentation. 
Some  teachers  hold  that  the  entire 
lesson  should  be  explained  in  detail 
before  the  student  is  allowed  to  pro- 
ceed with  the  study  or  practice  of  it; 
others  maintain  that  no  explanation 
should  be  given,  as  the  student  will 
have  the  principles  more  thoroughly 
impressed  on  his  mind  by  working  them 
out  for  himself,  and,  in  addition,  will 
acquired  self-reUance  by  so  doing. 

The  great  Pestalozzi  says,  "Never 
tell  a  child  what  he  can  find  out  for 
himself,"  and  Herbert  Spencer  expresses 
the  same  thought,  but  not  so  sweep- 
ingly,  when  he  says,  "Students  should 
be  taught  as  little  as  possible  and 
induced  to  discover  as  much  as  possible." 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand       5 

When  Philip  of  Macedon  presented 
his  son,  who  afterwards  became  Alex- 
ander the  Great,  to  Aristotle  as  a  pupil, 
he  said,  "See  that  you  make  yourself 
useless  to  my  son."  A  great  teacher, 
using  this  expression  as  a  text,  has  said : 
"Teach  your  pupils  to  think,  show  them 
the  sources  of  information  and  teach 
them  how  to  use  those  things  with 
which  they  will  have  to  do,  and  you 
have  done  more  for  them  than  you 
could  possibly  have  done  by  cramming 
their  minds  with  a  thousand  facts, 
useful  though  they  may  be." 

But  in  connection  with  these  wise 
maxims  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  acquirement  of  shorthand  involves 
not  merely  an  intellectual  understand- 
ing of  rules  and  principles,  but  actual 
manual  skill  in  execution,  therefore 
this  theory^of  education  should  not  be 
given  too  hteral  an  application  to  short- 
hand instruction.  Shorthand  is  largely 
manual,  and  the  technique  of  execution 


6       The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

can  be  most  quickly  secured  by  the 
imitation  or  practice  of  correctly  written 
forms  placed  before  the  student  as 
illustrations.  For  instance,  when  you 
place  a  shorthand  form  on  the  board, 
your  students  instinctively  imitate  your 
manner  of  writing  and  the  actual  form 
of  the  word  or  phrase. 

Therefore  between  these  extremes,  of 
an  exhaustive  explanation  of  the  lesson 
and  no  explanation  whatever,  I  take 
the  middle  ground. 

I  believe  that  the  teacher  can  best 
secure  the  attention  and  gain  the  con- 
fidence of  the  student  by  a  brief  but 
interesting  and  helpful  explanation  of 
the  most  important  features  of  each 
lesson.  I  believe  thoroughly  in  laying 
great  emphasis  on  making  the  lessons 
interesting.  Where  you  secure  interest 
you  are  bound  to  secure  deep  impres- 
sion. Without  the  cheerful,  magnetic 
influence  of  the  teacher,  there  is  al- 
ways an  atmosphere  of  discouragement 


,^' 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand      7 

in  the  shorthand  classroom.  A  well- 
known  teacher  in  discussing  this  subject 
said:  "Some  teachers  make  the  mis- 
take of  requiring  the  student  to  dig  his 
own  way  through  the  theory.  Much 
valuable  time  is  thus  lost,  and  not  a 
thing  is  gained.  Interpret  the  author's 
text  for  the  pupil,  and  get  him  to  the 
main  business  of  his  course,  writings 
without  a  moment's  delay." 

In  giving  such  an  explanation  there 
is  no  more  helpful  adjunct  than  a  good 
blackboard.  It  is  a  pity  that  the  value 
of  blackboard  work  in  teaching  short- 
hand is  not  more  fully  realized.  By 
the  skillful  use  of  the  blackboard  at  all 
stages  of  shorthand  study  an  energetic, 
resourceful  teacher  can  most  effec- 
tively arouse  the  interest  and  enthu- 
siasm of  the  students,  and  secure 
satisfactory  results.  I  most  earnestly 
urge  that  you  see  to  it  that  you  have 
a  good  blackboard  and  the  best  chalk 
obtainable,  and  further  that  you  practice 


8       The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

assiduously  to  acquire  a  style  of  writing 
that  will  be  an  inspiration  to  your 
students. 

Get  close  to  the  students.  If  the  black- 
board is  a  wall  fixture  around  the  room 
—  intended  more  for  decorative  pur- 
poses or  the  display  of  fancy  penmanship 
than  for  actual  service  —  and  is  at  some 
distance  from  the  first  row  of  students, 
then  by  all  means  make  other  provision. 
Get  a  board  on  a  stand  if  necessary, 
but  get  a  board  that  you  can  use  at  all 
times  close  to  the  students,  so  that  they 
can  clearly  see  the  shorthand  forms, 
and  where  they  are  distinctly  within 
the  range  of  your  influence. 

Having  assembled  your  class  in  seats 
in  front  of  the  blackboard,  the  first 
thing  is  to  secure  undivided  attention. 
To  do  this  without  apparent  efl?brt,  is 
an  art  in  itself — an  art  that  is  worth 
all  the  attention  you  can  give  it.  With- 
out close  attention,  you  cannot  hope 
for  satisfactory  results.     There  are  many 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand      9 

ways  of  securing  attention,  but  I  be- 
lieve in  the  quiet  method.  If  the  teacher 
will  merely  stand  before  the  class  for 
a  minute  or  two  looking  at  the  students 
quietly  and  steadily,  without  uttering  a 
word  or  manifesting  impatience  or  nerv- 
ous hurry,  absolute  silence  and  atten- 
tion will  be  secured  —  provided  the 
teacher  has  the  respect  and  confidence 
of  the  students. 

Begin  quietly  by  asking  them  to 
open  their  books  at  page  so-and-so,,  if 
they  have  not  already  acquired  that 
habit.  Say,  "  If  you  will  give  me  your 
attention  for  a  few  minutes,  I  will 
explain  the  first  principles  of  the  lesson 
you  are  about  to  study"  —  or  something 
of  that  kind. 

Having  explained  the  first  rule  or 
principle,  place  the  illustrations  on  the 
board.  As  far  as  possible  make  use  of 
illustrations  not  given  in  the  hook  (your 
students  will  learn  what  is  in  the  book 
by   personal   study)    as   this   will   give 


lO     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

additional  interest  to  your  remarks, 
and  secure  for  them  more  attention, 
because  new  words  under  a  principle 
have  a  power  of  stimulating  interest 
that  leads  to  deep  and  lasting  impres- 
sion. The  words  thus  selected,  too, 
should  be  common  words  so  that  the 
student  will  be  continually  adding  to 
his  stock  of  useful  shorthand  forms. 
The  application  of  the  principles  to 
new  words  will  also  show  reserve  power 
and  knowledge  outside  of  the  text- 
book, which  will  inspire  respect  and 
confidence. 

It  may  be  asked,  "What  purpose  is 
served  by  giving  explanations  and  illus- 
trations of  rules  so  fully  explained  and 
illustrated  in  the  text-book .? "  The  chief 
purpose  is  to  make  a  vivid  impression 
on  the  memory  of  the  student,  who 
will  remember  the  teacher's  oral  expla- 
nation and  the  blackboard  illustrations 
long  after  the  text-book  rules  and  illus- 
trations have  faded  from  his  memory. 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand     ii 

To  quote  from  an  address  I  made  to 
teachers  some  years  ago: 

"I  believe  the  teacher  should  be  su- 
perior to  the  text-book,  just  as  the 
finished  actor  rises  above  the  written 
play.  We  read  a  play,  and  find  it  dull 
and  Hfeless;  but  when  we  see  it  inter- 
preted by  a  great  actor  Hke  Mansfield 
it  makes  a  vivid  impression  on  our 
minds.  So  it  is  in  teaching  shorthand. 
Our  pupils,  being  young,  do  not  realize 
the  necessity  for  careful  preparation, 
and  are  likely  to  slight  the  lesson  unless 
the  teacher,  by  his  personal  force  and 
the  use  of  the  blackboard,  interests 
them  in  it. 

"I  think,  then,  there  should  be  some 
presentation  of  the  lesson,  but  how 
much  depends  very  much  upon  the 
conditions  —  upon  the  time  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  teacher,  the  class  of  students 
he  is  dealing  with  and  the  importance 
of  the  lesson.  In  approaching  an  im- 
portant   lesson,    deserving    of   a    great 


12      The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

deal  of  consideration,  when  the  time 
at  my  disposal  was  limited,  I  have 
often  felt  as  Mr.  Depew  says  he  did  in 
his  college  days  when  the  sententious 
professor  of  elocution  said  to  him, 
*Sir,  your  time  is  three  minutes,  and 
your  subject.  The  Immortality  of  the 
Soul/  .  .  . 

"A  great  mistake  commonly  made 
by  young  teachers  is  that  of  explaining 
too  much  —  of  being  too  anxious  to 
help  the  student  instead  of  making  him 
help  himself.  The  word  education  is 
derived  from  ^,  out,  and  ducerey  lead,  a 
leading  out.  The  great  art  in  teach- 
ing is  to  draw  out  the  student,  as  he 
advances  in  the  study.  The  teacher 
must  explain  the  important  rules  and 
principles  and  emphasize  their  impor- 
tance, but  he  should  try  to  get  the 
student  to  work  out  the  problems  for 
himself  as  much  as  possible." 

Cultivate  simplicity  of  statement.  The 
power  of  stating  a  thing  in  language  so 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand     13 

simple,  clear  and  direct  as  to  be  under- 
stood by  the  dullest  student  in  the  class 
is  a  great  art. 

In  teaching  there  is  a  temptation  to 
elaborate,  to  be  expansive.  Train  your- 
self to  shun  it  relentlessly.  A  writer 
in  one  of  the  professional  papers  says: 

Commercial  teachers  usually  talk  too 
much.  They  do  too  much  for  the  student 
and  communicate  to  him  what  he  should 
get  from  his  own  observation  and  delib- 
eration. A  boy  so  trained  will  go  into  a 
business  office  and  expect  the  proprietor 
to  follow  the  same  practice,  but  the  pro- 
prietor does  not  do  that,  and  consequently 
the  boy  is  lost.  A  very  important  part 
of  his  training  has  been  neglected.  If  I 
were  to  be  asked  for  what  I  consider  the 
most  important  habit  a  teacher  should  cul- 
tivate I  should  say,  "  Do  not  talk  too  much. 
Speak  only  when  it  is  necessary.  If  you 
can,  direct  a  student  how  to  find  out  for 
himself  what  he  requires.  Give  him  a 
simple  direction  and  let  him  do  the  rest 
himself*  An  enthusiastic  teacher  becomes 
so  thoroughly  saturated  with  his  work  that 


14     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

it  is  very  natural  for  him  to  overdo  the 
matter  of  instruction.  From  what  I  say 
it  must  not  be  inferred  that  I  mean  he  should 
become  so  silent  that  he  ceases  to  be  an 
instructor.  That  is  the  other  extreme.  He 
should  exercise  a  fine  discriminating  judg- 
ment in  saying  just  the  right  word  at  the 
right  time. 

If  an  unfortunate  reader  of  this  article, 
who  is  a  teacher,  will  on  the  following  day 
take  himself  in  hand  in  the  schoolroom, 
and  endeavor  to  condense  into  the  fewest 
possible  words  the  instruction  he  gives  to 
his  students,  he  will  be  astonished  in  a  very 
short  time  at  the  great  saving  in  his  physical 
strength  and  the  greater  self-reliance  and 
application  which  will  shortly  be  observed 
in  his  students. 

Now,  brevity  in  speech  must  not  be  under- 
stood to  mean  surliness,  curtness  or  sar- 
casm. These  are  three  weapons  that  come 
easy  to  the  teacher,  but  which  are  boom- 
erangs that  return  to  the  teacher  and  do 
far  more  harm  than  good.  Sarcasm  in  the 
schoolroom  is  a  splendid  disciplinary  agent, 
but  it  must  be  exercised  with  the  utmost 
caution;  curtness  and  surliness  are  never 
permissible. 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand     15 

No  instruction  is  valuable  which 
depends  upon  arbitrary  practice  or 
application  without  an  understanding 
of  the  reason  for  the  thing  that  is  being 
applied.  Therefore  make  it  a  practice 
to  explain  the  reason  for  each  rule  or 
principle  before  the  illustrations  are 
practiced.  With  the  fundamental  rules, 
it  is  usually  sufficient  to  explain  that 
they  represent  the  natural  way  of  writing 
the  forms. 

Another  important  feature  in  presen- 
tation that  I  wish  to  comment  on  is 
this:  Make  your  students  feel  that  they 
can  "  get "  the  lesson  from  your  explana- 
tions if  they  will  give  their  undivided 
attention.  Caution  them  against  put- 
ting off  "getting"  the  lesson  until  they 
are  alone  in  their  private  study.  Pri- 
vate study  should  be  used  only  to  aug- 
ment and  deepen  the  impression  of 
what  you  have  said.  It  is  well  to  bear 
in  mind  the  dictum  of  Herbert  Spencer, 
"To  give  the  net  product  of  the  inquiry 


1 6     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

without  the  inquiry  that  leads  to  it  is 
both  enervating  and  inefficient." 
We  come  now  to  the  second  process  — 

THE   APPLICATION 

Having  explained  a  rule  clearly  and 
briefly,  direct  the  students  to  practice 
the  illustrations  which  you  have  placed 
on  the  board. 

Be  explicit  in  your  directions  — 
"You  will  now  write  (so  many)  lines 
of  these  words,  making  the  forms  slowly 
and  carefully."  It  is  important  to 
have  a  well-defined  plan  of  practice, 
which  should  be  clearly  stated  and 
rigidly  enforced  until  it  becomes  a 
matter  of  routine.  Assign  so  many 
lines  of  each  shorthand  form  to  be 
written  by  the  student,  with  about  so 
many  forms  to  the  line.  The  last  men- 
tioned direction  is  for  the  purpose  of 
preventing  the  students  filHng  up  the 
lines  with  a  few,  large,  sprawling  out- 
lines. 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand     17 

As  they  practice  the  forms,  pass 
around  and  examine  their  work.  The 
knowledge  that  you  are  watching  them, 
and  are  interested  in  what  they  are 
doing,  will  develop  a  desire  to  excel  — 
to  merit  your  approbation  —  and  this 
spirit  of  emulation  is  productive  of  the 
best  results. 

When  you  think  it  necessary,  you 
may  criticize  and  correct  the  outlines; 
but  great  tact  should  be  exercised  in 
doing  this,  especially  during  the  first 
week  or  two.  Find  something  to  praise 
—  the  size  of  the  characters,  or  some 
curve  or  joining,  and  then  say,  "But 
this  form  might  be  written  a  little  better, 
like  this  — ."  An  experienced  teacher 
says:  "Do  not  emphasize  too  strongly 
criticisms  of  pupils'  errors.  Do  not 
overlook  errors,  but  give  more  atten- 
tion to,  and  say  more  in  commendation 
of,  what  the  student  has  done  correctly. 
If  the  student  is  judiciously  praised  for 
everything  that  he  writes  correctly,  the 


1 8     The  Teaching  oj  Shorthand 

little  that  may  be  necessary  to  say 
about  his  errors  is  not  likely  to  dis- 
courage him."  Praise  first  —  criticize 
afterwards. 

Do  not  expect  too  much  precision  of 
form  at  first;  and  above  all  things  avoid 
being  hypercritical  or  "fussy."  When 
the  student  has  gained  control  of  his 
hand  and  has  a  little  more  famiHarity 
with  the  forms,  you  will  have  plenty 
of  opportunity  to  enforce  exactness  of 
form,  and  your  explanations  will  then 
be  better  understood  and  become  more 
effective. 

It  often  requires  considerable  self- 
control  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  to 
refrain  from  interrupting  students  with 
many  explanations  and  criticisms. 

The  student  should  clearly  under- 
stand from  the  outset  that  shorthand 
is  a  study  requiring  much  practice, 
and  that  he  —  not  you  —  is  to  do  that 
practice.  Start  him  right!  If  you  begin 
by    explaining    everything,     correcting 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand         19 

everything,  giving  him  constant  atten- 
tion, he  will  expect  you  to  continue  to 
do  so  throughout  the  course,  and  will 
feel  neglected  and  helpless  when  you 
are  not  at  his  elbow.  Encourage  him 
to  acquire  self-reliance,  but  let  him  know 
that  you  are  always  ready  and  willing 
to  assist  him  when  assistance  is  abso- 
lutely necessary. 

For  his  own  sake  let  him  understand 
clearly  from  the  first  lesson  that  pro- 
ficiency in  shorthand  is  attained  only 
by  much  repetition  practice  —  by  writ- 
ing the  outlines  over  and  over  again. 

This  can  be  conveyed  to  him  as  much 
by  the  way  you  act  during  the  first 
lesson  as  by  stating  it  in  words.  If  a 
student  stops  writing  during  the  prac- 
tice work,  you  can  step  towards  him 
and  ask  in  a  solicitous  tone,  "What  is 
the  matter,  Mr.  Smith?"  and  then  in  a 
kindly  but  nevertheless  authoritative 
way  direct  him  to  continue  the  practice 
of  the  forms  until  you  tell  him  to  stop. 


20     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

The  others  will  hear  what  you  say  and 
thus  the  right  idea  will  be  established 
at  the  very  beginning.  Do  not  permit 
any  other  idea  to  take  root  in  subse- 
quent lessons;  let  him  understand  that 
nothing  will  take  the  place  of  genuine 
effort  on  his  part. 

In  passing  around  you  may  notice 
that  several  students  have  a  common 
fault  in  writing  an  outline  —  it  may  be 
the  joining  of  a  circle  or  the  slant  of 
the  curves.  Step  in  front  of  the  class 
and  say:  "Let  me  have  your  attention 
for  a  moment,  please.  I  notice  that  in 
writing  so-and-so  some  of  you  write  it 
like  this''  (illustrating).  Then  explain 
the  correct  way  of  making  the  outline, 
and  have  them  drill  on  it. 

In  doing  this  it  may  be  necessary  to 
contrast  the  correct  and  incorrect  forms, 
but  tht  faulty  forms  should  not  he  allowed 
to  remain  on  the  hoard;  let  the  emphasis 
rest  strongly  on  the  correct  forms.  If 
emphasized  too  much,  a  had  hahit  may 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand     21 

leave  an  impression  that  will  lead  to 
unconscious  imitation  or  repetition  of  it. 

For  this  reason  the  forms  placed  on 
the  board  should  be  as  graceful  and 
accurate  as  it  is  possible  for  the  teacher 
to  make  them  with  freedom  of  move- 
ment. The  conscientious  teacher  will 
practice  diligently  to  acquire  a  good 
blackboard  style  of  writing.  Students 
are  naturally  imitative  and  pick  up 
almost  unconsciously  the  style  of  writing 
placed  before  them  by  the  teacher. 

Explain  one  point  at  a  time;  then  en- 
force it  by  giving  the  students  illustra- 
tions for  practice.  That  distinguished 
educator,  Dr.  Charles  W.  Eliot,  Ex- 
President  of  Harvard  University,  says: 

The  next  thing  education  should  attend 
to -is  the  imparting  of  the  habit  of  quick  and 
concentrated  attention.  Without  this  there 
can  be  no  true  economy  of  time.  A  pro- 
longed attention  is  not  natural  to  children, 
and  should  not  be  demanded  of  them, 
but  quick  and  concentrated  attention  may 


22      The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

be  reasonably  expected  for  brief  intervals 
from  every  child.  As  the  age  increases, 
the  possible  period  of  close  attention  will 
grow  longer  and  longer. 

We  all  recognize  the  truth  of  this 
statement,  and  it  is  well  to  keep  it  stead- 
ily in  mind  in  all  our  classroom  work. 
As  you  can  secure  from  your  students 
quick  and  concentrated  attention  for  a 
brief  period  only,  talk  briefly,  interest- 
ingly, explain  one  point  at  a  time  — 
just  one  point  —  and  enforce  that  point 
by  earnest  practice. 

From  motives  of  economy  many 
schools  supply  students  with  cheap 
notebooks  and  pencils,  and  sometimes 
students  buy  such  notebooks  and  pen- 
cils at  the  stores.  Nothing  can  be  more 
detrimental  to  the  progress  of  the  short- 
hand student  than  poor  materials.  A 
well-known  reporter  says:  *'When  I 
see  some  of  the  notebooks  and  pencils 
used  by  stenographers,  I  sometimes 
wonder  how  these  stenographers  man- 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand     23 

age  to  write.  No  mechanic  could  use 
poor  tools  in  his  work,  and  produce 
good,  fast  work.  Artists  and  experts 
are  not  satisfied  with  anything  but  the 
finest  tools  and  instruments.  The  ste- 
nographer should  have  the  same  spirit. 
The  cost  of  the  best  is  only  a  trifle  more, 
and  the  better  and  finer  work  done 
often  results  in  a  reduced  size  of  writing 
which  makes  the  best  material  the 
cheapest  after  all." 

There  is  a  lack  of  uniformity  and  order- 
liness in  having  various  kinds  of  note- 
books. Just  as  an  orderly,  well-kept 
office  inspires  the  office  force  to  be  neat 
and  orderly,  so  good  notebooks  and  pen- 
cils inspire  the  student  to  do  good  work. 
Therefore  see  that  your  students  have 
good  notebooks  and  good  pencils,  and 
that  they  keep  the  pencils  sharp,  which 
will  aid  them  in  making  neat,  clean-cut 
outlines  and  insure  a  light  touch. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  third 
process  — 


24      The  Teaching  oj  Shorthand 

THE    EXAMINATION 

No  part  of  the  work  is  more  impor- 
tant than  tests  and  examinations  to 
determine  the  student's  knowledge  of 
the  principles  of  shorthand  as  he  pro- 
gresses, and  perhaps  no  portion  of  the 
work  is  more  neglected.  It  is  in  the 
examination  that  the  intelligence,  tact, 
industry,  and  teaching  quaHties  of  the 
teacher  are  brought  out  unmistakably. 
Show  me  a  teacher's  methods  of  testing 
students,  grading  papers,  and  system 
of  promotion,  and  I  will  tell  you  the 
quality  of  his  work  —  and  the  success 
he  reaches  in  preparing  stenographers 
for  the  exacting  demands  of  modern 
business. 

I  hasten  to  assure  you,  however,  that 
I  shall  not  prescribe  a  method  of  per- 
forming this  part  of  the  work  except 
to  make  some  suggestions  based  upon 
experience.  Although  I  have  been 
teaching  shorthand  for  a  quarter  of  a 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand     25 

century,  I  am  free  to  confess  that  I  have 
not  by  any  means  discovered  the  ideal 
method  of  giving  examinations.  There 
are,  however,  some  general  proposi- 
tions which  now  meet  with  almost  uni- 
versal acceptance,  at  least  as  far  as 
teachers  of  Gregg  Shorthand  are  con- 
cerned.    These  are: 

1.  That  in  shorthand  it  is  necessary 
to  insist  upon  a  certain  standard  of 
accuracy  oi  form  as  well  as  in  the  appli- 
cation of  the  rules. 

2.  That  a  practical  understanding  of 
the  application  of  a  rule  is  vastly  more 
important  than  a  knowledge  of  the 
exact  wording  of  it. 

3.  That  an  understanding  of  the 
practical  application  of  a  rule  is  best 
ascertained  by  requiring  the  student  to 
write  words  illustrating  the  rule  that 
are  not  given  in  the  lesson. 

4.  That  new  words  and  new  sen- 
tences arouse  the  interest  of  the  stu- 
dent,   and    develop     his     constructive 


26     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

power,  and  consequently  his  ability 
to  deal  more  promptly  with  new 
words. 

A  few  comments  on  tests  and  exam- 
inations, as  a  whole,  may  be  of  service. 
There  is  a  wide  divergence  of  opinion 
as  to  the  benefits  of  examinations. 
Some  distinguished  educators  are  op- 
posed to  examinations,  but  mainly  on 
the  ground  that  they  interfere  with 
continuous  work,  and  for  this  reason  I 
believe  that  the  tests  should  be  short, 
such  as  may  be  given  in  one  period,  so 
that  they  may  not  interfere  with  the 
onward  progress  of  the  student. 

Properly  conducted,  examinations  give 
students  an  opportunity  to  discover 
for  themselves  many  of  their  weak 
points,  and  perhaps  therein  lies  their 
greatest  value.  The  examination  is 
of  much  more  benefit  to  the  student 
than  to  the  teacher.  The  teacher 
generally  knows  the  student's  capabil- 
ities.    The  examination  serves  also  as 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    27 

a  review,  and  brings  all  the  work  he 
has  done  into  a  comprehensive  view, 
and  is  therefore  of  great  value.  The 
student  should  be  induced  to  feel  that 
the  examination  is  but  another  form  of 
recitation  —  that  his  actual  knowledge 
of  the  subject  is  not  affected  by  dis- 
closing his  weaknesses. 

Preparation  should  be  made  for  the 
regular  periodical  examination  by  giving 
frequent  tests  on  words  under  the  prin- 
ciples contained  in  certain  groups  of  les- 
sons. These  tests  not  only  strengthen 
knowledge  of  the  principles,  but  tend 
to  relieve  the  student  of  the  nervousness 
that  is  often  present  on  examination 
day.  Progressive  Exercises,  and  the  sup- 
plementary exercises  given  each  year 
in  the  Gregg  Writer,  serve  admirably 
for  tests  on  the  lessons.  In  both  tests 
and  examinations  I  think  great  care 
should  be  exercised  to  avoid  selecting 
words  that  involve  too  intricate  word- 
building.     It  is  very  easy  to  err  on  the 


28      The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

side  of  making  the  words  so  difficult  as 
to  discourage  the  student. 

The  younger  and  more  inexperienced 
students,  too,  often  have  difficulty  in 
writing  the  correct  forms  —  especially 
in  the  advanced  work  —  not  so  much 
because  they  are  unable  to  apply  the 
principles  of  shorthand^  as  on  account  of 
unfamiliarity  with  the  words  and  their 
pronunciation.  In  shorthand,  as  in 
spelling,  there  are  many  words  that 
may  be  called  "catch"  words,  and  these 
should  be  avoided  in  examinations. 
Such  words  may  be  used  as  a  special 
drill  in  regular  recitation. 

In  closing,  let  me  say  a  word  or  two 
of  the  value  of  personality  in  getting 
results.  A  keen  sympathy  with  the 
aims  and  ambitions  of  the  students  is 
one  of  the  quickest  means  of  getting 
into  that  close  personal  relationship 
which  is  so  necessary  for  both  student 
and  teacher  in  the  development  of  the 
student's   abilities.     This   can   best   be 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    29 

attained  by  letting  the  student  feel 
that  you  are  a  leader  and  guide  and  not 
a  critic.  Too  many  teachers,  especially 
the  younger  and  inexperienced,  are  apt 
to  feel  that  they  are  not  fulfilling  their 
mission  unless  they  put  themselves  in 
the  attitude  of  critics.  There  can  be 
no  greater  mistake.  You  at  once  an- 
tagonize the  student,  and  all  that  con- 
fidence and  freedom  of  expression,  and 
that  unfolding  of  his  real  self  are  lost 
to  you  —  you  never  get  at  his  better 
side,  the  side  which  will  lead  both  him 
and  you  to  success.  If  the  student 
feels  that  you  are  his  guide  and  friend, 
and  that  he  can  come  to  you  in  the 
fullest  confidence,  without  fear  of  crit- 
icism, when  he  meets  a  difficult  sit- 
uation, you  have  done  more  for  the 
development  of  that  student  than  you 
could  by  all  the  criticisms  you  could 
ever  make.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
is  such  a  thing  as  being  too  much  of  a 
guide  —  the  student  will  lean  on  you 


30     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

instead  of  being  self-reliant.  The  qual- 
ity of  self-reliance  must  be  cultivated. 
He  must  learn  that  while  you  may 
plaster  his  pathway  all  along  with  sign- 
posts for  his  guidance,  he  must  do  the 
traveling  for  himself —  that  nothing  can 
ever  be  substituted  for  his  own  energy, 
industry,  intelligence,  and  initiative. 


THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 
SHORTHAND 

Read  before  the 

Central  Commercial  Teachers' 

Association,  Omaha,  Nebr. 

May,  1905 


THE  ART  OF  TEACHING 
SHORTHAND 

THE  "Art  of  Teaching  Shorthand" 
is  such  a  broad  subject  that  I 
shall  not  attempt  to  do  more  in  this 
paper  than  to  give  some  thoughts  bear- 
ing on  certain  phases  of  it  which  have 
occurred  to  me  in  my  experience.  I 
can  do  no  more,  perhaps,  than  open  a 
discussion  which  will  lead  us  into  view- 
ing some  of  the  problems  from  different 
angles.  If  I  do  this  much,  I  shall  be 
satisfied. 

As  the  business  man  of  to-day  has 
been  educated  to  demand  a  higher 
standard  of  efficiency  in  his  steno- 
graphic force  than  formerly,  there  must 
be  a  corresponding  advance  in  the 
methods  of  teaching  shorthand  and 
typewriting    if   we    would    meet    these 


34    ^^^  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

requirements.  The  demand  for  speed 
in  execution  has  grown  in  the  profes- 
sion of  shorthand  as  in  everything  else. 
Work  of  all  kinds  is  now  done  under 
greater  pressure  than  ever  before. 

The  keen  competition  between  com- 
mercial schools  seems  to  render  it  im- 
practicable to  lengthen  the  course  of 
instruction  materially,  and  yet  the 
teacher  of  to-day  is  expected  to  produce 
much  better  equipped  stenographers  and 
typewriter  operators  than  formerly,  not 
only  from  the  standpoint  of  technical 
skill,  but  of  a  wider  cultural  education. 
This  additional  cultural  work  can  be 
done  effectively  in  the  high  school  by  the 
lengthening  of  the  course,  but  the  com- 
mercial school  must  produce  results  in 
a  shorter  time.  It  is  necessary,  there- 
fore, for  the  teacher  in  the  commer- 
cial school  to  intensify  his  instruction. 
While  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  time 
devoted  to  the  subjects  included  in  a 
shorthand  course  has  not  been  increased 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    35 

to  any  appreciable  extent  in  the  business 
school,  there  has  been  in  the  past  ten 
years  a  demand  by  business  men  of 
fully  twenty-five  per  cent  increase  in 
efficiency,  which  means  that  the  stu- 
dents must  accomplish  just  that  much 
more  in  the  time  that  custom  has  es- 
tablished as  necessary  to  prepare  for 
stenographic  work. 

This  being  the  case,  it  is  obvious  that 
improved  methods  of  instruction  are 
imperatively  demanded  to  meet  pres- 
ent-day conditions. 

And  while  this  demand  for  increased 
efficiency  has  been  growing  and  is  still 
growing  at  a  tremendous  rate,  there  can 
be  no  change  in  the  fundamental  proc- 
esses of  writing  shorthand  —  processes 
that  are  entirely  distinct  from  any 
improvement  in  the  shorthand  systems 
themselves  —  and  must  ever  be  pres- 
ent, whatever  the  shorthand  system 
used.  Let  us  consider  briefly  what 
these  processes  are,  and  we  shall  realize 


36     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

how  great  are  the  problems  involved  in 
teaching  shorthand,  as  well  as  in  acquir- 
I  ing  sufficient  skill  in  writing  to  meet 
existing  requirements.  A  keen  analyt- 
ical writer  on  this  subject  has  said: 

There  are  at  least  five  distinct  mental 
operations  carried  on  continuously  during 
verbatim  reporting.  First,  there  is  the 
sensation  of  sound  received  by  the  ear. 
Second,  there  is  the  perception  by  the 
brain  of  the  word  uttered  —  practically 
simultaneously  with  the  sensation  of  a 
hearing  in  the  case  of  a  distinct  speaker, 
but  often  delayed  a  large  fraction  of  a 
second  when  a  speaker  drops  his  voice,  or 
a  witness  in  court  has  a  foreign  accent.  In 
the  third  place,  the  stenographer  must 
analyze  the  structure  of  all  the  less  common 
words  in  the  sentences,  all  except  the  stock 
words  or  phrases,  which  he  writes  by  a 
practically  automatic  habit.  Fourth,  these 
relatively  uncommon  words  must  be  put 
on  paper  according  to  the  principles  of  the 
system  employed.  This  one  operation  in- 
volves many  subordinate  and  infinitely 
swift  efforts  of  recollection,  association,  and 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand     37 

decision.  Fifth,  all  these  mental  operations 
are  carried  on  while  the  pen  or  pencil  is 
from  two  or  three  words  to  an  entire  sen- 
tence behind  the  speaker  —  this  of  course 
in  rapid  speaking  —  thereby  complicating 
the  situation  by  compelling  memory  to  keep 
pace  with  attention.  In  other  words,  while 
the  scribe  is  writing  the  predicate  of  one 
sentence  and  analyzing  an  unfamiliar  word 
in  the  subject  of  the  next,  he  is  at  the  same 
time  giving  his  auditory  attention  to  the 
predicate  of  the  second  sentence  then  being 
uttered  by  the  speaker.  This  is  impossible 
to  an  untrained  mind.  The  average  edu- 
cated person  cannot  retain  more  than 
perhaps  six  or  eight  words  of  the  exact 
phraseology  of  a  speaker  at  one  time.  The 
competent  stenographer  can  hold  ten,  fif- 
teen, twenty  words,  or  even  more  in  his 
memory,  while  at  the  same  time  taxing  his 
mind  by  the  act  of  writing  the  words  that 
preceded. 

The  truth  of  what  this  writer  says 
is  obvious  to  us  all  and  there  is  forced 
upon  us  at  once  the  conclusion  that  the 
teaching    of   shorthand    presents    some 


38      The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

peculiar  and  distinctive  problems  in 
pedagogy.  I  say  "peculiar  and  distinc- 
tive" because  the  ordinary  principles 
of  pedagogy  cannot  always  be  applied 
in  shorthand  instruction,  because  it  is 
an  entirely  distinctive  problem. 

The  teaching  of  bookkeeping  is  largely 
a  mental  problem;  the  teaching  of 
penmanship  is  largely  a  manual  one. 
The  teaching  of  shorthand  combines 
both  problems  —  and  in  a  combination 
that  is  complex  in  the  highest  degree. 

In  teaching  bookkeeping  it  is  not  of 
great  importance  that  the  work  be  done 
quickly.  Speed  here,  as  elsewhere,  is 
desirable;  but  it  is  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance that  it  be  done  accurately. 
One  of  our  problems  is  the  thorough 
correlation  of  these  two  phases  of  short- 
hand work  —  that  is,  of  acquiring  both 
speed  and  accuracy. 

Let  me  draw  your  attention  for  a 
moment  to  the  last  named  condition 
of  which  the  writer  just  quoted  speaks, 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    39 

namely  —  the  training  of  the  memory, 
and  the  development  of  concentration, 
to  enable  the  student  to  remember  as 
many  words  as  possible  while  record- 
ing other  words.  Memory  training  and 
complete  concentration,  to  my  mind, 
present  a  distinctive  factor  in  the  teach- 
ing of  shorthand  —  memorizing  not  in 
the  sense  of  storing  up  in  the  mind 
facts  or  information  for  future  use,  but 
temporarily  holding  suspended  the  exact 
words  of  a  speaker,  given  perhaps  very 
rapidly,  until  they  can  be  written,  to  be 
then  forgotten. 

This  training  must  necessarily  be  a 
part  of  the  course  in  the  training  of  all 
shorthand  students  and,  until  the  ability 
to  retain  a  large  number  of  words  is 
developed,  a  high  degree  of  skill  cannot 
be  attained;  and  this  factor,  as  has 
been  said  before,  is  quite  distinct  from 
the  mastery  of  the  principles  of  short- 
hand, and  is  not  affected  by  the  system 
which  is  being  studied.     It  is  this  faculty 


40     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

that  gives  the  expert  shorthand  writer 
the  abihty  to  make  the  process  of  writ- 
ing continuous.  It  may  be  possible  to 
simpHfy  the  principles  of  shorthand  con- 
struction, so  that  the  mind  may  con- 
struct the  word  forms  more  easily,  and 
it  may  be  possible  to  render  the  joinings 
and  characters  more  easy  and  natural, 
so  as  to  lessen  the  manual  labor  in 
executing  them,  as  has  been  done  in 
modern  systems,  but  it  is  not  possible 
in  a  few  hours  to  endow  the  student 
with  the  trained  memory  which  will 
permit  of  the  performance  of  the  com- 
plex mental  and  manual  acts  required 
in  very  rapid  shorthand  writing. 

How  can  we  in  the  schoolroom  give 
this  memory  training  effectively  in  a 
course  that  is  already  burdensomely 
heavy?  One  of  the  ablest  teachers  we 
have  ever  had  in  the  profession,  Mr.  J. 
Clifford  Kennedy,  it  seems  to  me,  has 
made  a  very  valuable  suggestion.  He 
made  it  a  practice  to  give  one  dictation 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    41 

each  day  for  the  purpose  of  training  the 
students  to  remember  a  series  of  words. 
He  would  dictate  from  ten  to  fifteen 
words  and  the  students  would  not  write 
until  he  had  uttered  the  last  word  — 
which  he  indicated  by  tapping  his  desk. 
They  would  then  begin  to  write,  and 
when  they  had  finished  he  would  dictate 
another  line  or  two  while  they  refrained 
from  writing  until  he  again  tapped  the 
desk,  and  so  on.  His  method  was 
effective.  I  have  used  it  myself,  and 
it  is  surprising  the  attention  value  it 
has,  and  the  interest  it  lends  to  the 
work  of  dictation. 

A  well-known  reporter,  Mr.  W.  E. 
McDermut,  in  a  recent  paper,  said: 
"In  David  Wolfe  Brown's  book  on 
Factors  of  Shorthand  Speed  he  refers  to 
what  he  calls  the  *  word-carrying  faculty,' 
the  ability  to  carry  a  number  of  words 
in  the  mind  while  catching  up.  The 
faculty  may  be  improved  by  keeping 
a    safe    distance    behind    the    dictator 


42      The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

while  going  at  a  moderate  speed,  and 
gradually  increasing  the  distance  that 
the  writer  can  keep  behind,  as  well  as 
the  speed.  ...  In  dictating  to  classes 
a  good  beginning  in  this  way  can  be 
made  by  dictating  short  questions  and 
answers,  the  student  not  to  begin 
writing  the  question  until  the  dictation 
of  the  answer  is  begun,  and  so  on." 

And  while  on  the  subject  of  memory 
training,  there  is  another  act  which  must 
be  given  attention  —  hearing.  The  ear 
must  be  trained  to  catch  and  digest 
words. 

Let  us  return  to  the  acts  involved  in 
shorthand  writing  —  for  I  have  not 
mentioned  all  of  them.  While  the 
writer  of  shorthand  is  hearing,  think- 
ing out,  remembering  and  recording 
the  words  of  the  speaker  or  dictator,  he 
has  other  work  to  do.  He  must  turn 
the  pages  of  his  notebook  from  time 
to  time,  make  corrections  occasionally, 
observe  proportion  in  writing  the  char- 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    43 

acters  —  all  operations  necessitating  a 
share  of  the  attention.  If  he  is  to 
make  an  intelligent  report,  he  must  pay- 
close  attention  to  the  purport  of  the 
speaker's  remarks.  This  last  phase  of 
the  work  is  of  the  highest  importance 
in  making  an  intelligent  transcript, 
being  almost  impossible  if  the  writer 
is  unable  to  comprehend  the  meaning 
of  what  the  speaker  is  saying. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  practice  of 
shorthand  brings  into  active,  instan- 
taneous operation  all  the  faculties  of 
the  mind,  and  that  the  attainment  of  a 
high  degree  of  skill  in  shorthand  writing 
is  equivalent  to  a  proportionate  increase 
in  mental  activity. 

From  this  partial  statement  of  what 
is  done  in  actual  shorthand  writing,  it 
will  be  clear  that  the  teaching  of  the 
subject  has  distinctive  problems,  and 
affords  the  teacher  exceptional  oppor- 
tunities  for  diversified   methods. 

How   shall   we    develop    speed    with 


44     '^he  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

accuracy  in  the  shortest  possible  time? 
In  other  words,  how  shall  we  prepare 
our  students  to  become  efficient  stenog- 
raphers and  at  the  same  time  give  them 
that  correct  fundamental  training  which 
shall  enable  them  to  develop  a  high 
degree  of  skill? 

It  is  my  opinion  that  in  the  past  we 
have  laid  too  great  stress  upon  accuracy , 
and  paid  too  little  attention  to  the 
development  of  speed  from  a  scientific 
point  of  view.  It  is  a  common  fallacy 
that  "speed  will  come  with  practice." 

Without  in  the  least  depreciating  the 
importance  of  accuracy,  I  believe  that 
we  have  insisted  too  much  upon  accu- 
racy without  regard  to  speed,  and  by  so 
doing  have  fastened  upon  our  students 
a  sluggish  method  of  forming  the  char- 
acters from  which,  in  many  cases,  they 
have  been  unable  to  free  themselves 
in  after  years.  I  am  firmly  of  the 
belief  that  speed  in  execution  should  he 
developed  along  with  a  theoretical  knozul- 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    45 

edge  of  the  principles,  and  not  postponed 
until  the  writer  has  mastered  the  prin^ 
ciples. 

I  have  heard  teachers,  in  speaking 
about  this  matter,  say,  "Oh,  well,  the 
students  will  learn  the  knack  of  speed 
in  actual  work  outside  the  school." 
That  view  of  the  matter  is  a  survival 
of  the  old  idea,  now  fast  dying  out. 
Accuracy  and  speed  can  be  combined 
from  the  very  beginning,  and  should 
be.  Who  can  say  that  the  steps  of  a 
runner  are  any  less  accurate  than  are 
those  of  the  walker.?  The  secret  of 
speed  in  execution  lies  largely  in  getting 
the  right  idea. 

It  has  long  seemed  to  me  a  strange 
anomaly  in  business  education  that  the 
value  of  movement  exercises  should  be 
so  universally  recognized  in  the  teach- 
ing of  penmanship,  and  that  such  exer- 
cises should  be  almost  entirely  ignored 
in  teaching  shorthand.  The  technique 
of  shorthand  writing  is  of  the  utmost 


46     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

importance,  and  yet  most  of  us,  I  am 
afraid,  lay  the  stress  on  ** principles" 
and  not  "practice." 

If  it  be  conceded  that  movement 
drills  in  penmanship  develop  a  more 
perfect  command  of  hand  and  pen,  it 
would  seem  to  follow  that  they  are 
absolutely  indispensable  in  teaching 
shorthand,  where  rapid  and  accurate 
execution  simply  cannot  be  dispensed 
with. 

The  explanation  of  this  apparent 
inconsistency  may  possibly  be  found 
in  the  belief  that  shorthand,  requiring 
as  it  does  greater  nicety  of  execution, 
is  liable  under  free  movement  exercises 
to  develop  into  an  illegible  scrawl. 
While  this  may  be  true  to  some  extent 
with  the  student  who  has  not  been 
properly  trained  in  the  beginning,  I 
believe  that  an  injustice  is  done  to 
the  careful  and  conscientious  student 
by  the  utter  neglect  of  such  drills.  A 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  a  greater 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    47 

nicety  of  execution  is  demanded  for 
shorthand  writing  in  order  to  gain  speed 
in  writing  and  the  legibility  necessary 
for  rapid,  accurate  transcription,  would 
seem  to  emphasize  the  absolute  neces- 
sity for  movement  drills  to  develop 
manual  skill. 

We  can't  get  away  from  the  fact  that 
rapid  shorthand  writing  is  largely  a 
matter  of  manual  skill.  Shorthand  writ- 
ing is  writing,  not  drawing.  This  fact 
must  become  a  fixture  in  the  mind  of 
the  student  from  the  first  day  of  his 
work,  and  it  must  be  doubly  impressed 
that  all  that  is  written  must  be  read. 
I  am  not  one  who  believes  that  the  short- 
hand characters  must  be  drawn  with 
mathematical  accuracy  in  the  early 
lessons.  I  think  the  characters  must 
be  correct,  and  held  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible to  the  ideal,  but  they  must  be 
written  so,  not  drawn. 

Many  teachers  are  a  little  too  *'text- 
booky,"  if  I  may  so  express  it.     They 


48     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

use  modern  text-books  written  from  the 
teacher's  point  of  view;  they  know  these 
books  from  cover  to  cover,  and  they 
teach  the  principles  much  more  thor- 
oughly than  the  teacher  of  the  old 
school;  but  when  they  have  done  all 
that,  they  are  apt  to  think  that  the 
development  of  speed  lies  entirely  with 
the  student,  and  that  all  he  needs 
is  continuous  dictation  practice.  They 
feel  that  they  have  done  their  part  in 
teaching  rules  and  form,  and  the  rest 
lies  with  the  student  and  his  em- 
ployer. 

Willing  and  anxious  as  they  are  to 
assist  the  student  at  all  stages  of  the 
work,  they  have  no  systematic  plan 
for  giving  him  an  insight  into  the 
peculiar  knack  of  rapid  writing  or  of 
training  him  in  those  time-saving  ex- 
pedients and  modifications  of  form 
which  must  be  acquired  before  a  high 
degree  of  skill  can  be  attained. 

In  my  opinion  the  shorthand  teacher 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    49 

owes  It  to  the  reputation  of  the  school 
with  which  he  is  connected  to  demon- 
strate to  the  students  that  under  his 
instruction  they  acquire  something  out- 
side the  text-book  —  something  that 
cannot  be  acquired  by  any  amount 
of  home  study  or  mere  dictation 
practice. 

One  of  the  most  powerful  aids  in 
imparting  to  others  the  knack  of  writing 
shorthand  rapidly  is  the  abiHty  to  write 
rapidly  and  to  demonstrate  how  it  is 
done.  Not  rapidity  in  the  sense  that 
the  teacher  must  be  a  "record  breaker,*' 
or  a  "speedist,"  but  he  ought  to  have 
sufficient  executional  skill  to  show  stu- 
dents that  he  is  a  capable  writer  himself. 
And  it  may  be  remarked  in  passing 
that  the  teacher  who  takes  the  trouble 
to  acquire  this  skill  will  have  revealed 
to  him  some  of  the  things  behind  the 
scenes  which  will  do  more  to  help  him 
to  secure  results  than  anything  he  has 
ever  undertaken. 


50      The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

It  is  not  sufficient  to  give  general 
suggestions  from  time  to  time,  for  such 
academic  instruction,  however  valuable 
it  may  be,  leaves  only  a  transient  im- 
pression on  the  mind  of  the  average 
student  and  is  of  little  practical  value 
in  the  development  of  speed. 

To  be  of  any  effective  service,  the 
instruction  must  be  supplemented  by 
regular  and  intense  application  under 
the  eye  of  the  teacher.  I  advocate  a 
systematic  course  of  exercises  for  ad- 
vanced students,  mapped  out  with  the 
same  care  as  are  the  drills  now  used  in 
teaching  penmanship  or  touch  type- 
writing. 

Such  drills  will  result  in  a  great  im- 
provement in  the  style  of  writing,  and 
will  have  the  effect  of  keeping  steadily 
before  the  student  the  importance  of 
facility  of  execution.  In  an  article  some- 
time ago  in  the  American  PenmaUy  Mr. 
Carl  C.  Marshall,  in  speaking  of  a  visit 
to   a   penmanship   class   conducted   by 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    51 

Mr.  F.  B.  Courtney,  said:  "I  noticed 
that  the  class  did  not  follow  the  count 
uniformly,  that  is,  did  not  'write  to- 
gether' or  in  the  same  time.  I  after- 
wards called  Mr.  Courtney's  attention 
to  this  and  asked  him  if  it  was  intended 
that  they  should  do  so.  'Oh,  no,'  he 
said,  *the  purpose  of  the  count  is  pri- 
marily to  secure  speed,  not  uniformity 
of  movement,  which  is  not  only  im- 
practicable but  not  really  desirable. 
I  think  the  counting  helps  them  to 
avoid  the  drawing  habit  or  the  con- 
struction of  the  letters  slowly  and  with- 
out regard  to  the  time.  It  keeps  the 
paramount  idea  of  speed  constantly 
before  them.'"  Mr.  Marshall  adds, 
"This  was  the  first  time  that  the 
ps^T^chological  value  of  the  counting 
device  had  been  made  plain  to  me." 
So  it  is  with  shorthand  penmanship 
drills  when  conducted  with  snap  and 
vim.  They  eliminate  the  "drawing 
habit"     and     keep     the     "paramount 


52      The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

idea  of  speed"  constantly  before  the 
students. 

The  advantages  of  the  shorthand 
penmanship  drill  may  be  briefly 
summed  up  as  follows: 

It  relieves  the  monotony  of  ordi- 
nary routine  dictation  and  by  keep- 
ing the  student  interested  in  his 
work  insures  more  certain  and  rapid 
progress. 

It  promotes  harmony  between  the 
mental  and  physical  actions  in  short- 
hand writing,  the  hand  being  trained 
to  respond  more  promptly  to  the  thought 
transmitted  to  it  from  the  brain. 

It  leads  the  student  to  study  the 
individual  peculiarities  of  his  writing, 
and  by  familiarizing  him  with  the  modi- 
fications which  outlines  undergo  when 
rapidly  written,  enables  him  to  acquire 
greater  fluency  in  reading. 

It  teaches  him  to  control  the  unnec- 
essary movements  of  the  hand  and  to 
acquire    knowledge    in    this    direction, 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand     53 

which  might  otherwise  come  to  him 
only  after  years  of  actual  work. 

It  compels  a  student  who  has  a 
sluggish  or  awkward  method  of  writing 
to  realize  by  comparison  that  the  fault 
is  with  himself,  and  not  with  the 
teacher  or  the  system  he  writes. 

It  trains  him  to  make  rapid  transi- 
tions between  words,  to  move  easily 
and  rapidly  from  the  end  of  one  line 
to  the  beginning  of  the  next,  and  from 
page  to  page. 

It  gives  him  a  swiftness  of  action  that 
is  carried  into  all  the  other  writing. 

It  shortens  the  time  required  to  attain 
proficiency  in  shorthand,  and  thus  allows 
more  time  to  be  given  to  typewriting, 
spelling,  punctuation,  etc. 

It  promotes  a  spirit  of  emulation  and 
inspires  the  student  with  greater  confi- 
dence in  his  teacher. 

It  is  of  the  highest  importance  to 
maintain  the  interest  of  the  student  in 
his  work.     There  is  too  much  routine 


54     '^^^  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

and  too  much  continuous  dictation  in 
our  classrooms.  Continuous  dictation 
acts  as  a  soporific,  and  the  evidence  of 
this  will  be  found  in  the  large  percent- 
age of  students  who  find  it  necessary 
to  support  their  heads  with  their  hands 
while  taking  dictation. 

The  penmanship  and  other  exercises 
that  I  have  suggested  will  impart  an 
interest  and  a  vim  to  the  work  in  the 
classroom  which  will  induce  students 
to  do  their  very  best,  and  this  quite 
apart  from  the  value  of  the  exercises  in 
developing  combined  speed  and  accu- 
racy. The  former  superintendent  of 
the  Chicago  schools,  Mr.  Cooley,  in 
reply  to  a  criticism  about  the  in- 
troduction of  fads  into  the  public 
schools,  said;  "The  fads  are  essen- 
tial. It  is  impossible  to  keep  a  child's 
attention  at  a  set  task  for  very  long. 
They  have  their  three  R's  and  then 
their  games,  cooking,  sewing,  etc.,  and 
then    they   go   back   to   the    first.     In 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand     55 

this    way    the   children    enjoy    all    the 
studies." 

Now  as  our  students  are  but  children 
of  a  larger  growth,  what  Mr.  Cooley 
says  appHes  to  our  work.  We  should 
make  it  more  interesting,  more  intense. 


"TRICKS   OF   THE   TRADE" 
IN  TEACHING  SHORTHAND 

Read  before  the  National 

Shorthand  Teachers'  Association 

St.  Louis,  Missouri,  1901 


"TRICKS   OF   THE   TRADE" 
IN  TEACHING  SHORTHAND 

THE  title  of  my  paper  was  suggested 
by  the  concluding  remark  of  a 
school  proprietor  who  applied  to  me 
for  a  teacher.  After  mentioning  the 
requirements,  he  said:  "To  sum  it  all 
up,  I  want  a  man  who  is  thoroughly 
qualified  —  one  who  knows  all  the  tricks 
of  the  trade."  At  first,  I  was  inclined 
to  resent  the  imputation  that  there 
were  any  tricks  in  our  trade,  but  sub- 
sequent reflection  and  observation  have 
convinced  me  that  we  cannot,  with 
truth,  say  "there  are  tricks  in  all  trades 
but  ours." 

WHAT  "tricks  of  THE  TRADE*' 

MEANS 

The  phrase  is  not  used  in  a  derogatory 
sense;    in  our  profession  it  is  usually 


6o     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

intended  to  convey  the  idea  of  adapta- 
bility, tact,  experience,  etc.  In  every 
line  of  human  endeavor,  the  man  who 
is  valuable  to  his  employer  is  the  man 
who  knows  the  tricks  of  his  trade.  It 
is  just  as  true  in  our  profession  as  it  is 
of  the  shoe  clerk  who  sells  you  a  pair 
of  shoes  for  seven  dollars  when  you 
intended  to  purchase  a  pair  for  half 
that  amount  on  entering  the  store. 
And  by  that  it  is  not  meant  the  man 
who  is  familiar  with  all  the  sharp 
practices  and  underhanded  tricks  of  a 
trade,  but  the  man  who  makes  friends 
because  of  his  knowledge  of  his  business 
and  >of  human  nature,  and  who,  by  his 
industry,  foresight,  and  adaptability  to 
different  personalities,  is  able  to  make 
the  best  use  of  his  knowledge.  Such  is 
the  man  who  is  familiar  with  the  legiti- 
mate "tricks"  of  his  trade.  It  is  he 
who  reaches  the  highest  success  in  any 
line,  whose  force  is  felt  not  only  in  his 
own  particular  profession,   but   carries 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    6i 

the  influence  of  his  forcefulness  into 
all  branches  of  human  activity.  But, 
back  of  this  familiarity  with  human 
nature,  there  must  be  a  wider  and  deeper 
knowledge  —  knowledge  of  the  thou- 
sands of  details,  small  in  themselves, 
but  which  go  to  make  up  the  whole. 
It  is  the  faculty  for  going  into  the  very 
heart  of  a  thing  and  studying  it  analyt- 
ically, the  faculty  that  enables  a  Kipling 
to  write  with  equally  profound  knowl- 
edge of  the  freaks  of  a  locomotive,  or 
still  greater  freaks  of  human  sentiment; 
that  enables  a  J.  Pierpont  Morgan  to 
so  arrange  his  forces  as  to  bring  about 
financial  combinations  that  are  stag- 
gering in  their  magnitude;  that  enables 
a  Marconi  to  send  electric  impulses 
across  the  sea  by  methods  hitherto 
undreamt  of. 

The  shorthand  teacher  usually  has 
but  little  to  do  with  the  business  man- 
agement of  the  school  with  which  he  is 
associated;     but   whether   he   has    any 


62      The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

word  in  the  business  management  or 
not,  he  can  make  himself  of  more  value 
to  his  employer  by  familiarizing  him- 
self with  all  the  phases  of  the  school 
management,  in  order  that  he  may  be 
able  to  understand  the  school's  policy 
and  become  an  effective  factor  in  its 
success. 

MASTERY   OF  THE    SUBJECT 

First  of  all,  it  goes  without  saying, 
he  should  be  master  of  the  theory  and 
technique  of  the  art  which  he  teaches. 
This  is  an  indispensable  trick.  Noth- 
ing carries  conviction  so  quickly,  or 
is  the  source  of  greater  inspiration  to 
his  students,  than  evidence  that  the 
teacher  can  do  what  he  teaches. 

The  teacher  who  gives  a  practical 
demonstration  of  his  ability  to  perform 
the  feats  which  he  asks  of  his  pupils,  has 
done  more  perhaps  to  gain  the  confidence 
of  his  students  than  he  could  by  any 
other   means.     There   is    such    a   wide 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    63 

difference  between  the  theory  of  any- 
art  and  the  appHcation  of  the  theory  to 
practical  work  that  it  seems  to  me  this 
is  a  point  that  should  receive  a  great 
deal  of  earnest  attention  from  the 
teacher.  Methods  of  execution  in 
writing  can  only  be  taught  by  practical 
illustration.  One  may  have  an  almost 
perfect  conception  of  how  a  thing 
should  be  done,  and  yet  not  be  able  to 
do  it  until  he  has  seen  it  done.  Such 
knowledge  does  not  come  from  a  mere 
conception  that  this  or  that  thing  can 
be  done;  it  comes  only  after  infinitely 
patient  toil. 

But,  in  illustrating  a  point,  the  teacher 
should  not  allow  his  own  expertness 
in  execution  to  become  so  apparent 
as  to  discourage  his  students.  He 
should  endeavor  to  keep  his  execution 
within  the  bounds  of  the  capacity  of 
his  students;  it  should  be  an  illustration 
of  the  methods  of  movements  rather 
than  a  demonstration  of  the  speed  at 


64      The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

which  such  movements  may  be  made, 
otherwise  the  effect  may  be  opposite 
from  that  which  he  desires.  If  he  can 
create  the  impression  upon  the  students 
that  it  is  all  very  simple,  and  that  by  a 
little  extra  effort  they  can  do  as  well, 
he  will  unconsciously  develop  in  them 
a  feeling  of  power  that  will  have  the 
most  beneficial  effect. 

RESOURCEFULNESS    NECESSARY  AT 
TIMES 

While  all  this  is  true,  it  sometimes 
happens  that  through  circumstances  a 
teacher  is  thrown  into  new  surroundings 
and  finds  himself  in  a  position  where 
his  only  salvation  is  his  ingenuity  and 
ability  to  adapt  himself  to  the  new 
conditions.  In  such  circumstances,  I 
believe  it  is  perfectly  justifiable  to  take 
advantage  of  whatever  tricks  he  may 
be  able  to  devise  in  order  to  carry  out 
his  work  successfully.     To  illustrate: 

I  recently  visited  a  school  where  the 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    65 

teacher  had  been  obliged  to  make  a 
change  of  systems  a  few  weeks  pre- 
viously. As  I  entered  the  classroom 
he  was  placing  a  shorthand  exercise 
on  the  board  for  transcription.  He 
held  the  text-book  in  his  hand,  and 
appeared  to  be  composing  the  exercise 
as  he  wrote.  I  was  very  much  im- 
pressed with  the  ease  with  which  he 
executed  the  outlines,  considering  the 
time  he  had  devoted  to  the  system  he 
was  using.  The  only  pauses  appeared 
to  be  those  caused  by  hesitancy  in  com- 
posing the  sentences,  but  which  were 
in  reality  caused  by  his  efforts  to  grasp 
fully  the  import  of  the  outlines.  Upon 
investigation,  I  found  that  he  had  col- 
lected exercises  bearing  on  each  lesson 
from  another  teacher  and  pasted  them 
in  his  book  following  the  lessons.  This 
man  possessed  resourcefulness,  and  to 
my  mind  he  was  perfectly  justified  in 
employing  such  an  expedient.  His  pre- 
vious experience  made  him  capable  of 


66     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

imparting  instruction;  the  fact  that 
he  reaUzed  his  somewhat  imperfect 
knowledge  of  the  instrument  he  was 
using,  aroused  him  to  use  all  his  re- 
sourcefulness to  make  his  instruction 
eflFective,  and  that  it  was  effective  was 
attested  by  the  interest  and  confidence 
of  his  students.  If  the  teacher  had 
not  used  this  "trick,"  his  students 
would  very  quickly  have  detected  his 
weakness,  lost  confidence  in  his  ability, 
and  become  discouraged. 

PERSONAL  INTEREST  IN  STUDENTS 

A  very  important  point  is  for  the 
teacher  to  take  a  personal  interest  in 
the  progress  of  each  student,  but  this 
must  be  done  without  creating  any 
suspicion  of  partiality.  Only  by  a  con- 
stant study  of  the  peculiarities  of  each 
student,  in  order  that  he  may  give 
him  such  encouragement  as  he  needs 
and  point  out  tactfully  the  errors  of 
his  ways  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    6j 

antagonize  him,  can  the  teacher  hope 
to  attain  this  end.  The  element  of 
personal  interest  in  his  students  is  a 
potent  one  in  influencing  the  success 
of  the  teacher  as  well  as  that  of  the 
student.  It  is  a  "trick"  that  can  be 
acquired  only  by  painstaking  care, 
and  requires  the  exercise  of  rare  dis- 
crimination, self-control,  and  a  strong 
sense  of  justice.  It  is  an  art  that 
should  be  cultivated  assiduously.  The 
school  proprietor  can  get  students  to 
the  school.  The  success  of  the  stu- 
dent is  then  practically  in  the  teacher's 
hands,  and  the  fitness  of  the  teacher 
for  the  position  which  he  holds  will 
depend  upon  how  well  the  pupil  accom- 
plishes his  task.  The  teacher  should 
bring  every  influence  to  bear  to  make 
the  progress  of  the  student  so  sure  and 
thorough  that  when  he  leaves,  whether 
it  be  in  six  months  or  a  year,  he  will  be 
quaHfied  to  discharge  his  duties  cred- 
itably to  himself  and  to  the  institution 


68      The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

where  he  received  his  training.  While 
the  teacher  is  employed  primarily  to 
"teach,"  there  is  much  more  to  be 
taught  than  the  mere  art  of  shorthand 
writing.  He  should  make  a  study  of 
the  defects  in  the  training  of  his  stu- 
dents, and  try  as  far  as  possible  to 
correct  them.  Anything  that  would 
tend  to  lessen  the  student's  chances 
for  success,  such  as  lack  of  taste  in 
dress,  untidiness,  pecuHar  mannerisms, 
etc.,  may  be  corrected  by  occasional 
general  talks  on  such  subjects,  and  in 
extreme  cases  by  tactful  confidential 
talks.  It  is  manifestly  impossible  for 
teachers  handling  large  classes  to  re- 
member the  name  of  each  student  at 
all  times  —  although  it  will  be  surprising 
to  those  who  have  not  tried  it  how 
quickly  the  faculty  can  be  acquired — 
but  it  is  a  habit  that  the  teacher  should 
acquire  as  early  in  his  experience  as 
possible.  There  is  hardly  anything 
more  displeasing  to  the  student  than 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    69 

for  his  teacher  to  neglect  to   address 
him  by  name. 

SECURING  THE  ATTENTION  OF   STUDENTS 

The  art  of  holding  the  attention  of 
the  student  while  presenting  the  lesson; 
of  repeating  the  explanations,  if  need 
be,  in  different  language,  until  they 
have  been  thoroughly  impressed  on  the 
mind  of  the  student,  is  a  subject  that 
will  require  much  earnest  study  on  the 
part  of  the  teacher. 

At  this  point  the  teacher  will  have 
full  opportunity  to  exercise  whatever 
ingenuity  and  resourcefulness  he  may 
possess,  because  methods  of  presenta- 
tion that  would  appeal  quickly  and 
effectively  to  one  class  of  students, 
might  have  exactly  the  opposite  effect 
on  others.  The  teacher  should  make 
a  careful  study  of  the  personnel  of  his 
classes,  and  adopt  methods  that  will 
comprehend  the  various  mental  capa- 
bili'ties  of  his  students,  if  possible.     A 


70     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

mistake  many  inexperienced  teachers 
make  is  to  adapt  their  methods  to  a 
few  of  the  bright  pupils  of  one  class, 
to  the  utter  confusion  of  the  less  intel- 
lectual students. 

THE  TEACHER  SHOULD  BE  SUPERIOR 
TO  THE  TEXT-BOOK 

Another  point  at  which  many  teachers 
fail  is  in  making  their  own  instruction 
subordinate  to  that  of  the  text-book. 
The  difference  between  such  instruc- 
tion and  real  instruction  is  just  the 
difference  that  distinguishes  the  written 
play  from  the  acted  play.  In  the 
former  the  whole  mass  of  words  is  life- 
less, except  to  the  highly  imaginative; 
in  the  latter  art,  environment,  and  the 
living  words  of  the  actors  make  a 
lasting  impression. 

THE    USE   OF  THE    BLACKBOARD 

Perhaps  nothing  marks  the  differ- 
ence between  the  experienced  teacher 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    71 

and  the  novice  more  than  the  method 
of  using  the  blackboard,  and  I  would 
name  the  intelHgent  use  of  the  black- 
board as  one  of  the  greatest  tricks  in 
our  trade.  From  the  position  that  he 
assumes  before  the  board,  the  inex- 
perienced teacher  often  appears  to  be- 
lieve that  his  pupils  can  see  through 
him,  I  mean  in  the  literal  sense.  But 
in  our  profession  the  art  of  "side- 
stepping'' is  just  as  important  as  it  is 
in  the  noble  art  of  self-defense.  The 
experienced  teacher  after  writing  the 
outlines  on  the  board  will  step  aside 
in  an  easy,  natural  manner  so  that 
students  in  all  parts  of  the  room  may 
have  a  clear  view  of  the  board.  The 
young  teacher  is  very  apt  to  write  his 
outlines  so  small  and  faint  that  they 
cannot  be  seen  by  any  except  those  who 
are  close  at  hand.  The  knack  of  re- 
taining proportion  of  outline  while  writ- 
ing large  on  the  board  is  a  trick  that 
requires  considerable  practice. 


72      The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 


KEEPING  "just  AHEAD "  OF   STUDENTS 

The  inexperienced  teacher  is  fre- 
quently inclined  to  "show  off"  by 
writing  very  rapidly  on  the  board,  to 
the  utter  bewilderment  of  his  students. 
This  may  impress  them  with  a  due 
appreciation  of  his  ability  as  a  writer 
of  shorthand,  but  it  has  a  most  dis- 
couraging effect  on  the  student  who 
contrasts  his  snail-like  execution  with 
that  of  the  teacher.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  teacher  who  has,  through  long 
training  and  experience,  mastered  the 
method  of  handling  blackboard  work, 
will  write  just  a  little  ahead  of  his  pupils 
—  enough  to  make  them  feel  that  with 
a  little  effort  they  could  do  as  well  — 
but  he  will  always  be  just  ahead  of  his 
pupils. 

GENIALITY  —  AND   DISCIPLINE 

The  teacher  should  possess  a  genial 
and  amiable  disposition,  but  he  should 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand      73 

not  allow  the  discipline  of  his  room  to 
become  lax  in  his  efforts  to  be  good 
natured,  nor  should  he  allow  students 
to  get  the  idea  that  the  acquisition  of 
a  business  education  is  anything  but  a 
serious  matter.  He  should  glow  with 
such  a  warmth  of  good-will  as  to  be  a 
constant  incentive  to  his  students  to 
emulate  his  example.  He  must  put 
vim  and  enthusiasm  into  his  work; 
all  his  acts  must  be  so  businesslike  that 
his  students  will  unconsciously  acquire 
the  habit.  He  must  cultivate  his  mem- 
ory so  that  he  will  be  relentless  in  getting 
the  work  he  requires  of  his  students. 
He  should  be  very  careful,  however, 
in  deciding  upon  a  policy,  to  be  sure 
that  he  can  carry  it  out.  Work  started 
by  a  teacher,  and  afterwards  abandoned, 
will  create  a  feeling  of  distrust  in  his 
ability. 

A  moderate  amount  of  work  thor- 
oughly accomplished  each  day  will  be 
far  more  effective  than  a  large  amount 


74     ^^^  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

imperfectly  gone  over.  Students  are 
very  quick  to  detect  imperfections  in 
a  teacher's  character,  and  weak  points 
in  his  methods,  and  he  must  therefore 
constantly  strive  to  make  his  work  as 
strong  as  possible.  The  teacher  should 
impress  upon  his  pupils  the  advantage 
of  thorough  preparation,  and  show  them 
the  folly  of  leaving  school  before  they 
are  competent  to  fill  the  best  positions. 
I  beHeve  that  the  teacher  in  advocating 
a  long  course  is  rendering  the  student 
the  greatest  possible  service,  as  well 
as  doing  his  full  duty  by  his  employers 
and  to  the  commercial  community. 
Business  men  nowadays  make  such 
exacting  requirements  of  stenographers 
that  it  is  imperative  that  the  school 
expecting  to  keep  in  the  front  rank 
should  so  qualify  its  students  that  they 
can  enter  upon  their  duties  without 
having  to  go  through  a  long  course  of 
"breaking  in." 
It  will  require  rare  judgment  on  the 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand     75 

part  of  the  teacher  to  effect  this  result 
without  creating  the  suspicion  that  he 
is  working  solely  for  his  employer's 
interests. 

KEEPING   UP-TO-DATE 

The  wide-awake  teacher  will  keep 
fully  alive  to  the  methods  pursued  by 
business  houses  in  the  handling  of 
correspondence.  Methods  change  con- 
stantly, and  the  teacher  who  would 
attain  the  great  success,  and  enlarge 
his  influence  in  his  profession,  must 
keep  up-to-date  in  his  methods.  He 
can  do  this  by  keeping  in  close  touch 
with  his  former  students  who  have  gone 
out  into  the  business  world,  and  by 
reading  the  shorthand  magazines.  And 
while  he  is  making  a  study  of  these 
methods,  he  should  not  forget  the  hun- 
dreds of  ambitious  teachers  who,  per- 
haps, may  not  be  so  fortunately  situated 
for  studying  methods,  and  give  them 
the  benefit  of  his   experience  through 


^S     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

this    Association    and    the    shorthand 
magazines. 

DIFFERENCES    IN   SCHOOL   CONDITIONS 

It  has  often  occurred  to  me  that  in 
all  the  meetings  of  this  Association 
which  I  have  attended,  there  has  never 
been  any  reference  made  to  the  differ- 
ences existing  between  the  methods 
of  conducting  a  day  school  and  a  night 
school  in  a  large  city.  These  are  im- 
portant considerations,  and  personally 
I  should  like  to  hear  them  discussed. 
When  I  visit  a  school  in  a  small  town, 
I  always  envy  the  shorthand  teacher 
the  class  of  students  he  has  under  his 
charge.  They  are  generally  earnest  and 
ambitious,  and  are  willing  to  devote  con- 
siderable time  to  practice  outside  school 
hours.  The  city  student,  as  a  rule,  is 
not  so  thorough  in  his  work,  and  it  is  a 
severe  drain  upon  the  teacher's  energies 
to  keep  him  sufficiently  interested  to 
perform  the  work  assigned  to  him. 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    77 

DAY  SCHOOL  AND  NIGHT  SCHOOL 

The  same  difference  exists  between 
the  day  school  and  the  night  school  in 
a  large  city.  In  the  day  school  the 
students  are  usually  very  young,  and 
as  they  have  no  idea  of  the  value  of 
time,  it  is  imperative  that  the  teacher 
should  be  constantly  on  the  alert.  In 
the  night  school  the  students  are  older, 
and  as  they  are  employed  during  the 
day,  they  are  accustomed  to  strict  dis- 
cipline and  continuous  labor.  As  they 
have  taken  up  the  study  of  choice,  and 
have  not  been  sent  by  their  parents, 
they  are  liable  to  discontinue  the  study 
at  any  time  unless  they  are  kept  in- 
terested and  believe  they  are  making 
satisfactory  progress. 

Night  school  work  has  always  had  a 
fascination  for  me,  perhaps  because  of 
my  desire  to  help  those  who  are  trying 
to  help  themselves.  I  believe  that  the 
methods  employed  in  the  night  school 


78      The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

should  differ  materially  from  those  of 
the  day  school.  As  the  night  school 
students  are  employed  in  the  business 
hours,  they  know  a  great  deal  about 
office  routine,  business  terms  and  forms, 
and  consequently  they  require  less  in- 
struction in  these  things.  They  can 
apply  their  shorthand  and  typewriting 
more  readily  on  that  account,  but  as 
they  are  at  work  all  day,  it  is  abso- 
lutely essential  that  they  should  be 
kept  interested  and  wide-awake.  Less 
copying  work  should  therefore  be  as- 
signed to  them,  and  they  should  be 
given  a  great  deal  more  blackboard 
and  dictation  work.  As  they  have 
already  acquired  businesslike  habits  of 
deportment,  the  teacher  can  assume 
toward  them  a  more  genial  attitude 
than  is  possible  in  the  day  school.  This 
adaptability  to  the  varying  needs  of 
the  day  and  night  school  is  one  of  the 
tricks  I  would  require  above  all  others 
in  a  teacher  in  my  employ. 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    79 

THE   ELEMENT  OF  HUMOR 

At  the  convention  of  this  Associa- 
tion last  year,  we  had  with  us  a  teacher 
who  was  unquestionably  a  master  of 
his  profession,  but  who  has  now  passed 
away  —  Mr.  Benjamin  Stanley  Banks. 
I  believe  that  his  death  has  been  a 
distinct  loss  to  our  profession,  and  that 
his  place  cannot  be  adequately  filled. 
Recently  one  of  his  pupils,  who  is  now 
in  charge  of  the  shorthand  department 
of  a  large  commercial  school,  told  me 
that  Mr.  Banks  was  fully  alive  to  the 
importance  of  keeping  his  students 
interested  in  their  work  by  novel  meth- 
ods of  instruction.  He  said  that  in 
dictation  work  he  frequently  relieved 
the  monotony  by  the  introduction  of 
impromptu  talks  on  various  subjects 
to  be  reported  by  the  students,  and  he 
made  it  an  invariable  rule  to  dictate 
an  extract  from  Mark  Twain,  Max 
Adler,  or  some  other  humorist  as  the 


8o     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

last  exercise  of  the  day.  In  order  that 
the  students  might  go  away  laughing 
and  in  good  spirits.  While  this  method 
would  not  at  all  times  be  advisable, 
it  seems  to  me  that  a  good  feeling  in- 
spired by  such  a  course,  would  occasion- 
ally be  very  beneficial  in  relieving  the 
monotony  of  a  hard  day's  work. 

IMPORTANCE    OF   WELL-DIRECTED 
ENERGY 

In  closing  I  desire  to  mention  that 
which  in  any  line  of  business  counts 
for  more,  perhaps,  with  one  exception 
—  brains  —  than  any  other,  and  that 
is,  well-directed  energy.  To  a  teacher, 
energy  is  as  indispensable  as  a  mastery 
of  the  subject  he  teaches.  A  teacher 
using  mediocre  or  even  inferior  meth- 
ods, who  backs  up  his  work  with  snap 
and  energy,  will  accomplish  creditable 
results  where  a  more  brilliant  man  with 
less  energy  would  prove  a  failure.  The 
successful  teacher  must  be  able  to  create 


'^:. 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    8 1 

an  atmosphere  of  energetic  action  that 
will  arouse  his  pupils  to  put  forth 
their  best  efforts.  But  he  must  learn 
to  judge  between  apparent  energy  and 
actual  energy.  Nothing  is  more  absurd 
than  a  man  rushing  hither  and  thither, 
sputtering  and  fuming,  in  the  belief 
that  he  is  accomplishing  something. 
It  is  the  escaping  steam  that  makes 
the  noise.  A  teacher  may  possess  a 
vast  storehouse  of  energy  and  yet  fail 
to  accomplish  results  because  of  his 
inability  to  direct  his  energy  in  the 
proper  channels. 

The  teacher  must  be  the  adviser  and 
guardian  spirit  of  his  pupil,  and  it 
should  be  his  constant  care  to  see  that 
each  day  marks  a  distinct  step  on 
Hfe's  road,  and  that,  above  all,  the  stu- 
dent can  never  say,  "I  came  out  by  the 
same  door  wherein  I  entered." 


EFFICIENT  STENOGRAPHERS 

WHAT  SHOULD   THEIR   ATTAINMENTS 

AND    QUALIFICATIONS    BE   WHEN 

THEY    GRADUATE    FROM 

THE    SCHOOL 

Read  before  the  New  England 

Business  College  Association 

WooNsocKET,  Rhode  Island 

1910 


EFFICIENT  STENOGRAPHERS 

THE  word  "efficient,"  as  commonly 
used,  is  such  an  elastic  term  that 
perhaps  Webster's  view  of  it  may  help 
us  in  formulating  a  standard  of  com- 
parison in  the  present  discussion.  His 
definition  of  "efficient'*  is:  "Causing 
effects;  producing  results;  not  inac- 
tive, slack  or  incapable;  characterized 
by  energetic  and  useful  activity." 

In  order  to  understand  fully  the  con- 
ditions which  confront  the  stenographer 
who  would  be  classed  among  the  "effi- 
cient," let  us  consider  for  a  moment 
the  present-day  demands. 

DEMAND   CONSTANTLY   INCREASING 

As  American  business  has  grown  in 
complexity,  under  the  influence  of  ex- 
pansion, from  trade  of  a  purely  local 
nature  to  that  of  world-wide   extent, 


86      The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

the  demands  laid  upon  stenographers 
have  also  increased  in  complexity,  and 
the  efficient  stenographer  of  to-day 
must  include  in  his  equipment  far 
more  than  was  required  ten  or  even 
five  years  ago.  And  it  may  be  men- 
tioned in  passing  that  while  expan- 
sion of  trade  was  inevitable  to  a  people 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  enterprise 
as  Americans  are,  yet  it  has  been 
greatly  facilitated  and  hastened  through 
the  instrumentality  of  modern  short- 
hand and  the  typewriter.  Business 
men  of  executive  ability  and  imagina- 
tion have  been  able  to  multiply  them- 
selves through  the  aid  of  these  twin 
arts,  and  to  handle  to-day  a  volume  of 
business  that  would  have  been  impos- 
sible with  the  old-time  methods. 

THE  STENOGRAPHER  NO  LONGER 
A  FAD 

Business  men  were  quick  to  appre- 
ciate  the   value   of  the    stenographer, 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    87 

and  have  been  responsible  for  his  de- 
velopment from  a  sort  of  ** luxury'*  or 
"fad"  into  one  of  the  most  efficient 
aids  in  a  modern  business  organization. 
The  stenographer  of  to-day  is  not  occu- 
pied wholly  with  typing  out  the  letters 
which  the  firm  sends  to  the  outside 
world,  though  of  course  this  comprises 
a  large  part  of  his  daily  work,  but  the 
inter-house  correspondence,  in  which 
the  heads  of  this  business  dictate  orders 
and  instructions  to  its  various  branches, 
and  to  its  traveling  sales  force,  calls 
for  a  technical  knowledge  of  the  busi- 
ness that  goes  far  outside  the  mere 
business  of  writing  shorthand  and  typing 
it  on  the  machine.  A  large  part  of 
these  instructions  are  made  up  from 
form  books;  they  require  a  checking 
and  following  up  and  a  collecting  of 
material  that  lays  upon  the  stenog- 
rapher duties  calling  for  ability  of  a 
different  kind  from  that  of  merely 
following  orders.     As  the  stenographer's 


88      The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

ability  to  grasp  details  from  a  few 
meager  instructions  increases,  his  im- 
portance and  value  to  the  firm  also 
increases. 

THE   EFFICIENT   STENOGRAPHER  ALSO 
A   CORRESPONDENT 

The  really  efficient  stenographer  in 
modern  business  to-day  can  handle  a 
great  deal  of  the  correspondence  from  a 
few  directions  from  his  employer.  He 
becomes  acquainted  with  the  policy  of 
the  house,  studies  his  employer's  way 
of  handling  problems  through  corre- 
spondence, is  able  to  give  the  personal 
touch  to  the  firm's  correspondence  that 
the  head  of  the  firm  himself  would  give. 
His  work  becomes  truly  "character- 
ized by  energetic  and  useful  activity." 
He  must  be  acquainted  with  the  new 
card  records,  filing  systems,  and  office 
practice  generally,  and  this  involves 
a  far  more  intricate  knowledge  than  is 
commonly  supposed. 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    89 

KEEPING    STEP   WITH    PROGRESS 

Recent  economic  influences  have 
brought  about  also  vast  changes  in 
the  methods  of  record  keeping  and  in 
handHng  the  transactions  of  business, 
with  which  the  efficient  stenographer 
must  be  thoroughly  familiar,  because 
they  require  his  services. 

Typewriter  companies  have  added 
new  attachments  to  their  machines 
which  make  them  far  more  useful,  but 
which  also  make  necessary  more  knowl- 
edge and  greater  technical  skill  on  the 
part  of  the  stenographer.  Brief  as 
are  these  references,  they  give  an  idea 
of  the  complexity  of  the  commercial 
stenographer's  need  for  special  knowl- 
edge to  enable  him  to  render  efficient 
service. 

THE    GENERAL   STENOGRAPHER 

The  problem  is  far  more  complex 
and  difficult  in  the  case  of  the  general 


90     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

stenographer,  who  in  addition  to  these 
qualifications  must  also  have  a  knowl- 
edge of  a  very  wide  variety  of  topics 
outside,  and  I  might  say  what  would 
be  considered  almost  foreign  to  his 
profession  by  those  not  understanding 
the  varied  nature  of  his  work.  For 
example,  the  general  stenographer  is 
called  upon  to  do  work  for  the  manu- 
facturer, the  attorney,  the  chemist,  the 
physicist,  the  college  professor,  the  pro- 
moter, the  physician,  the  litterateur, 
the  playwright,  the  mining  engineer, 
and  a  multitude  of  other  professional 
men.  To  perform  this  service  effi- 
ciently, he  must  have  a  knowledge  of 
the  terms  and  phrases  used  in  these 
various  professions,  and  his  knowledge 
must  be  more  than  superficial. 

THE    QUALIFICATIONS   OF  THE    BEGINNER 

What  should  the  stenographer's  at- 
tainments and  quaHfications  be  when 
he  is  graduated  from  the  school.?     The 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    91 

work  of  the  stenographer  is  distinctly- 
technical,  and  therefore  in  order  that 
his  work  may  produce  results,  that  he 
may  be  efficient,  the  first  in  importance 
of  his  qualifications  should  be  a  thor- 
ough training  in  his  technical  subjects 
—  shorthand,  typewriting,  and  English. 

THE    IMPORTANCE   OF   ENGLISH 

Before  the  student  of  stenography 
can  become  really  efficient  in  his  tech- 
\nical  subjects  he  must  have  a  solid 
educational  foundation  upon  which  to 
build.  His  efficiency  as  a  stenographer 
is  based  upon  a  good  working  knowledge 
of  the  English  language.  The  writer 
of  shorthand  merely  takes  "notes," 
and  does  not  attempt  to  take  dicta- 
tion as  it  appears  in  print.  Necessarily 
the  punctuation,  the  capitalization,  the 
spelling,  the  paragraphing,  the  sub- 
heads must  be  supplied  from  the  ste- 
nographer's knowledge  of  language,  and 
his  grasp  of  the  subject;   and  his  effi- 


92      The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

ciency  is  increased  exactly  in  propor- 
tion to  the  accuracy  of  his  knowledge 
along  these  lines.  Hence  it  can  be 
seen  that  a  thorough  understanding  of 
grammar  and  English  composition  is 
an  indispensable  factor  in  the  stenog- 
rapher's equipment.  The  student  of 
stenography,  however,  will  find  that 
the  work  in  stenography  can  be  made  a 
great  help  in  learning  English. 

WORD   STUDY 

Along  with  the  English,  the  stenog- 
rapher must  have  a  thorough  training 
in  spelling,  and  particularly  in  the 
meaning  and  use  of  words.  This  is 
generally  a  weak  point  in  the  average 
stenographer's  education  —  a  lack  of 
knowledge  of  the  use  of  words.  To  be 
efficient,  the  stenographer  needs  a  high 
school  education,  and  if  he  has  more 
than  this  all  the  better.  Naturally 
such  a  stenographer  can  be  entrusted 
with  a  great  deal  of  the  detail  work  of 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    93 

the  correspondence  and  will  be  accord- 
ingly more  valuable. 

GENERAL   KNOWLEDGE    INVALUABLE 

He  should  know  commercial  arith- 
metic, commercial  law,  have  a  general 
knowledge  of  history  and  of  literature, 
and  be  a  reader  of  good  current  liter- 
ature, in  addition  to  the  education 
already  mentioned.  In  fact,  no  knowl- 
edge that  an  ordinarily  well-educated 
person  possesses  can  very  well  be  dis- 
pensed with  in  the  stenographer's  equip- 
ment. Since  perhaps  nine  out  of  ten 
stenographers  are  engaged  in  busi- 
ness, it  is  evident  that  the  more  he 
knows  about  business,  its  methods, 
its  phraseology,  the  more  efficient  he 
becomes. 

ACCURACY  MORE  IMPORTANT  THAN 
SPEED 

When  we  come  to  the  technical  sub- 
jects   of    shorthand    and    typewriting. 


94      'T'he  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

nothing  less  than  a  very  high  degree 
of  proficiency  will  meet  present-day 
demands.  In  shorthand  great  speed 
is  not  so  much  needed  as  accuracy. 
A  speed  of  one  hundred  words  a  minute 
on  matter  of  ordinary  difficulty  is  suffi- 
cient for  the  average  office  position. 
But  the  notes  taken  at  this  rate  should 
be  so  legible  that  the  stenographer  can 
utilize  his  full  typewriting  speed  in 
transcribing.  He  cannot  be  called  an 
efficient  stenographer  until  he  can  ac- 
complish this.  Great  stress  should 
therefore  be  laid   upon  reading  abiHty. 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  TOUCH 
TYPEWRITING 

The  development  of  typewriting  dur- 
ing the  last  few  years  has  been  ex- 
traordinary. Since  the  introduction 
of  touch  typewriting  both  speed  and 
accuracy  have  been  increased  in  a 
wonderful  degree.  An  accurate  knowl- 
edge  of  what    a   really   capable   type- 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    95 

writer  operator  can  accomplish  has 
set  the  typewriting  standard  higher 
every  year,  and  the  operator  to  be 
really  efficient  nowadays  has  to  pro- 
duce a  very  high  class  of  work.  The 
typewritten  page  is  what  the  employer 
sees;  it  must  be  accurate.  He  also 
takes  note  of  time;  the  typewriting 
must  be  done  with  speed.  The  operator 
to  fulfill  these  requirements  must  stay 
in  school  long  enough  and  get  the 
necessary  training  to  meet  the  new 
demand.  The  variety  of  the  type- 
writer operator's  work  also  is  constantly 
enlarging.  He  must  show  skill  in  every 
branch  of  his  work.  He  must  be 
familiar  with  tabulating  devices,  the 
adding  machine  typewriter,  and  the 
various  other  devices  which  have  re- 
cently been  added  to  the  machine. 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  LOCAL  CONDITIONS 

The   locaHty    in    which    the    stenog- 
rapher is  to  work  should  also  be  con- 


96     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

sidered  in  the  problem  of  efficiency. 
His  knowledge  should  be  adapted  to 
local  conditions.  For  example,  the  city 
of  Schenectady  is  an  electrical  center, 
and  the  stenographer  working  there, 
of  necessity,  must  be  familiar  with  the 
terms  and  phrases  used  in  the  electrical 
industry  if  he  comes  in  contact  with 
correspondence  of  this  nature.  Chicago 
is  a  big  railroad  and  packing-house 
center,  requiring  a  knowledge  of  these 
two  industries;  and  in  Washington, 
civil  service  and  governmental  terms 
are  common.  The  stenographer  in 
these  places  must  be  familiar  with  these 
lines. 

PLAIN   COMMON    SENSE    NEEDED 

There  are  various  other  qualities 
that  need  to  be  emphasized.  One  of 
the  rarest  of  qualities  among  both 
young  men  and  women  entering  busi- 
ness is  plain  common  sense.  Business 
is  an  occupation  in  which  the  ability  to 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    97 

think,  and  to  put  two  and  two  together, 
is  more  valuable  than  any  other  trait. 
And  yet  this  ability  is  the  rarest  to 
find.     As  Elbert  Hubbard  said: 

We  are  all  down  on  the  time  book  for 
eight  dollars  a  day,  but  one  reason  why 
some  receive  less  in  their  pay  envelopes  is 
because  the  cash  is  held  back  to  pay  some- 
one else  for  looking  after  them,  laying  out 
the  work,  and  holding  them  to  their  tasks. 
I  know  lots  of  men  who  pay  seven  dollars 
a  day  for  supervision.  The  less  super- 
vision, the  more  pay;  the  more  supervision, 
the  less  pay. 

There  should  be  a  new  study  added 
to  the  curriculum  of  all  schools  pre- 
paring young  men  and  women  for 
business  —  a  study  that  will  develop 
common  sense. 

GRADUATION  TESTS  DELUSIVE 

Considerable  diversity  of  opinion  ex- 
ists as  to  what  the  graduation  test 
in   the   technical   subjects   of  a   steno- 


98      The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

graphic  course  should  be.  Gradua- 
tion tests  at  best  are  delusive.  Some 
of  the  poorest  stenographers  I  know 
could  pass  the  average  graduation  test 
without  the  slightest  difficulty  when  it 
comes  to  speed  in  typewriting  and  in 
shorthand.  The  average  school  holds 
the  student  to,  say,  one  hundred  words 
a  minute  in  shorthand  and  thirty-five 
words  a  minute  transcribing  speed. 
Generally  the  matter  selected  is  from 
business  letters,  and  the  ordinary  busi- 
ness letter,  as  we  know,  is  not  difficult. 
A  fairer  test  would  be  the  above  figures 
applied  to  a  newspaper  article  or  an 
editorial  article  from  a  newspaper  or 
magazine,  for  the  reason  that  the 
stenographer  never  knows  what  line 
of  business  he  may  be  engaged  in, 
and  his  shorthand  examination  should 
be  on  all-round  matter  which  will  test 
his  ability  to  write  ordinarily  hard  new 
matter. 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    99 

Summary 

To  sum  up  the  technical  qualifica- 
tions the  efficient  stenographer  should 
have: 

1.  A  thorough  knowledge  of  English  — 
an  ability  to  write  a  businesslike  letter  in 
businesslike  English. 

2.  A  knowledge  of  words  which  will 
enable  him  to  substitute  the  right  word 
when  the  wrong  one  is  used  by  his  employer. 

3.  A  working  knowledge  of  spelling,  punc- 
tuation, paragraphing,  and  good  style  in 
iirrangement. 

4.  A  shorthand  speed  of  not  less  than 
100  words  a  minute  on  ordinarily  difficult 
matter. 

5.  An  ability  to  read  his  notes  fluently 
and  accurately. 

6.  A  transcribing  speed  of  at  least  thirty- 
five  words  a  minute  in  typewriting,  and 
a  knowledge  of  the  mechanics  and  mechan- 
ical devices  of  his  machine. 

7.  A  working  familiarity  with  the  cul- 
tural studies  ordinarily  included  in  a  com- 
mercial high  school  course. 


loo     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

Of  the  general  qualifications  the  fol- 
lowing are  indispensable: 

1.  Common  sense. 

2.  An  ambition  to  give  service  instead 
of  merely  to  draw  salary. 

3.  The  ability  to  keep  the  affairs  of  the 
business  to  himself. 

4.  A  desire  to  climb  higher;  to  make  his 
work  merit  promotion. 

5.  Faith  in  his  work  and  a  desire  to  learn 
all  there  is  to  know  about  the  business. 

6.  Honesty  and  loyalty. 

When  the  stenographer  possesses  all 
these  qualities  his  work  will  "cause 
effects"  that  will  be  eminently  satis- 
factory to  him  and  to  his  employer; 
his  work  will  be  "characterized  by 
energetic  and  useful  activity";  and 
he  can  truly  call  himself  an  "efficient" 
stenographer. 


THE  APPLICATION  OF  MODERN 

EFFICIENCY  PRINCIPLES  TO 

THE  TEACHING  OF 

SHORTHAND 

An  Address  to  the  "Gregg 

Shorthand  Round  Table," 

AT  THE  Eastern  Commercial 

Teachers'  Association 

April  21,  1916 


THE  APPLICATION  OF  MODERN 

EFFICIENCY  PRINCIPLES  TO 

THE  TEACHING  OF 

SHORTHAND 

IN  the  brief  time  allotted  to  me  I 
cannot  do  more  than  outline  what 
I  beHeve  to  be  the  next  step  forward  in 
teaching  our  special  subject.  In  order 
to  gain  your  attention  I  am  going  to 
make  a  bold  statement  at  the  very 
outset.  It  is  this:  I  believe  that  the 
efficiency  of  most  shorthand  depart- 
ments could  be  increased  from  twenty- 
five  to  fifty  per  cent  by  the  adoption 
of  the  methods  I  am  about  to  suggest. 
All  I  can  hope  to  do  within  the  time 
limit  is  to  give  you  a  skeleton  of  the 
plan,  but  I  hope  that  what  I  have 
to  say  will  be  sufficient  to  induce  you 
to  reflect  upon  it,  to  investigate,  and  to 
experiment  with  it. 


I04     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

The  plan  is  the  application  to  the 
teaching  of  shorthand  of  what  is  known 
in  business  as  scientific  management, 
or  efficiency  principles.  It  is  well  known 
that  the  work  of  many  of  the  great 
industries  and  factories  has  been  revo- 
lutionized by  the  work  of  Frederick 
Taylor,  Frank  Gilbreth,  Harrington 
Emerson,  and  other  efficiency  engineers. 
I  believe  that  a  similar  revolution 
can  be  effected  in  teaching  shorthand 
through  the  adaptation  of  efficiency 
principles  to  our  classroom  work. 

Let  me  trace  the  steps  taken  by  the 
efficiency  engineer  in  the  study  of  any 
problem.  He  first  studies  the  material 
to  be  handled  by  the  workmen,  and 
the  methods  adopted  in  handling  it. 
Through  "motion  studies"  and  "time 
studies"  he  sets  a  standard  to  be 
attained,  based  upon  the  performance 
of  the  best  workman.  He  improves 
even  the  performance  of  the  best  work- 
man by  suggestions  based  on  his  obser- 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand     105 

vations.  He  then  proceeds  to  bring 
all  of  the  workmen  up  to  that  standard 
by  the  elimination  of  unnecessary  or 
time-wasting  motions  in  the  perform- 
ance of  the  workto  be  done.  Let  me 
explain  how  this  was  applied  to  brick- 
laying. 

A  Lesson  from  Bricklaying 

Bricklaying  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  trades. 
Although  practiced  by  millions  of  men, 
there  has  been  little  or  no  change  in  the 
materials  or  the  manner  of  doing  the 
work  in  centuries.  An  efficiency  engineer, 
Mr.  Frank  Gilbreth,  applied  the  principles 
of  scientific  management  to  bricklaying 
with  remarkable  results.  His  investigation 
showed  that  in  laying  bricks  under  standard 
conditions,  the  bricklayer  made  eighteen 
motions.  Applying  scientific  principles  to 
the  problem,  Mr.  Gilbreth  succeeded  in 
reducing  the  number  of  motions  to  five, 
with  the  result  that  the  average  per  man, 
per  hour,  which  had  been  120  bricks,  was 
increased  to  350  bricks. 

Let  us  consider  what  the  traditional  way 
of  laying  bricks  is.     The  bricks  are  dumped 


lo6     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

out  in  a  pile,  the  bricklayer  stoops  down  and 
picks  up  a  brick  out  of  the  pile,  examines 
it,  taps  it,  and  if  it  is  a  trimmed  brick, 
finds  which  end  should  be  placed  outward, 
and  proceeds  to  place  it  in  position.  Here 
you  have  a  number  of  complicated  move- 
ments. In  applying  scientific  management, 
Mr.  Gilbreth  studied  the  exact  position 
which  each  of  the  feet  of  the  bricklayer 
should  occupy  with  relation  to  the  wall, 
the  mortar  box,  and  the  pile  of  bricks,  and 
so  made  it  unnecessary  for  him  to  take  a 
step  or  two  toward  the  pile  of  bricks  and 
back  again  each  time  a  brick  was  laid.  He 
studied  the  best  height  for  the  mortar  box 
and  the  brick  pile,  and  then  designed  a 
scaffold  with  a  table,  upon  which  all  of  the 
materials  are  placed,  so  as  to  keep  the  bricks, 
the  mortar,  the  man,  and  the  wall  in  their 
proper  relative  positions.  These  scaflFolds 
are  adjusted  for  all  of  the  bricklayers  as 
the  wall  grows  in  height,  by  a  laborer  espe- 
cially detailed  for  this  purpose.  By  this 
means,  the  bricklayer  is  saved  the  effort  of 
stooping  down  to  the  level  of  his  feet  for 
each  brick  and  each  trowel  full  of  mortar, 
and  then  straightening  up  again.  Think 
of  the  waste  of  effort  that  has  gone  on 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand    107 

through   all  these   years  with   each   brick- 
layer lowering  his  body  down  and  raising 
it  again  every  time  a  brick,  weighing  about 
five  pounds,  is  laid  in  the  wall,  and  this 
each    bricklayer   did    about    one    thousand 
times   a  day!    The   bricks,   too,   are  care- 
fully sorted  by  a  laborer  with  their  best 
edge  on  a  simple  wooden  frame,  so  as  to 
enable  him  to  take  hold  of  each  brick  in 
the  quickest  time  and  in  the  most  advan- 
tageous position.     In  this  way,  the  brick- 
layer avoids  having  to  turn  the  brick  over 
on  end  to  examine  it  before  laying  it,  and 
saves,  too,  the  time  taken  in  deciding  which 
is  the  best  edge  and  end  to  place  upon  the 
outside  of  the  wall.     In  most  cases,  he  saves 
the  time  taken  in  disentangling  the  brick 
from  a  disorderly  pile  on  the  scaffold.     We 
have   all   seen    bricklayers   tap   each    brick 
several  times  with  the  handle  of  the  trowel 
as  it  is  pilaced  on  its  bed  of  mortar  so  as  to 
secure  the  right  thickness  for  the  joint.     Mr. 
Gilbreth  found  that  by  tempering  the  mor- 
tar just  right,  the  bricks  could  be  readily 
bedded   to  the  proper  depth   by  a  down- 
ward pressure  of  the  hand  with  which  they 
were  laid. 

This  will  give  you  an  idea  of  how  scien- 


io8     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

tific  management  is  arrived  at  and  applied. 
It  is  by  intense  analysis  and  study  of  each 
movement  of  the  workman  and  by  elim- 
inating one  after  another  all  unnecessary 
movements,  and  substituting  fast  for  slow 
movements.  It  requires  very  close  study 
of  every  minute  element  which  in  any  way 
affects  the  speed  of  the  workman. 

Another  important  feature  of  scientific 
management  is  this:  that  each  workman 
is  treated  as  an  individual,  and  his  work  is 
carefully  planned  for  him  in  advance.  He 
knows  just  what  he  has  to  do,  and  how  much 
he  has  to  do  per  day. 

Just  as  in  the  traditional  method  of 
bricklaying,  the  increase  in  the  height 
of  a  wall  being  built  was  dependent 
upon  the  slowest  workman,  so,  under 
the  traditional  methods  of  shorthand 
instruction,  the  progress  of  the  stu- 
dents is  regulated  by  that  of  the  slowest 
student  in  the  class.  This  is  true  of 
theory  work  and  it  is  true  of  dictation 
work,  which  must  be  governed  by  the 
slowest  student. 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand     109 

In  the  study  of  shorthand,  what  is 
the  object  to  be  accomplished?  It  is 
the  recording  of  words  as  rapidly  as 
possible.  The  material,  then,  with 
which  the  student  deals  is  words;  the 
tools  with  which  he  handles  that  ma- 
terial are  shorthand  characters. 

The  first  point,  then,  to  be  considered 
Is  the  nature  of  the  material  to  be 
handled  —  words.  Unlike  bricks,  words 
are  not  standardized  as  to  size,  appear- 
ance or  frequency  of  use.  A  recent 
monograph  issued  by  the  Russell  Sage 
Foundation  entitled  "A  Measuring  Scale 
for  Ability  in  Spelling,"  by  Leonard  P. 
Ay  res,  states  that  ten  words  {the,  and, 
of,  tOy  I,  a,  in,  that,  you,  for),  with 
their  repetitions,  constitute  more  than 
one-fourth  of  all  the  words  we  write; 
and  that  fifty  words,  with  their  repeti- 
tions, constitute  about  one-half  of  all 
the  words  we  write. 

Recent  investigations  of  various  dic- 
tation books   made  in  our  own  office 


no     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

have  shown  that  more  than  ninety  per 
cent  of  all  the  words  used  in  ordinary- 
dictation  are  written  in  accordance  with 
the  first  ten  lessons  of  our  shorthand 
Manual.  It  follows  from  this  that 
much  greater  attention  should  be  given 
to  these  lessons  than  to  the  other  lessons 
because  exceptional  rapidity  in  doing 
nine-tenths  of  the  work  to  be  done  is 
of  the  utmost  importance.  It  has  been 
demonstrated,  too,  that  if  a  student  is 
drilled  systematically  and  intelligently 
on  the  alphabetic  characters  and  com- 
binations in  the  early  lessons,  and  then 
given  a  great  variety  of  actual  dicta- 
tion practice  on  words,  sentences,  letters, 
and  articles  that  may  be  written  in 
accordance  with  the  principles  of  these 
lessons,  he  is  able  to  handle  the  less 
frequent  material,  the  long  and  un- 
common words,  with  vastly  increased 
facility. 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand     iii 

A  Lesson  from  Typewriting 

I  have  given  you  an  illustration  of  the 
application  of  these  principles  to  bricklay- 
ing. At  this  point  I  should  like  to  direct 
your  attention  to  the  remarkable  results 
that  have  been  secured  through  the  applica- 
tion of  these  principles  to  a  subject  that  is 
closely  allied  to  shorthand  —  typewriting. 
You  will  remember  that  but  a  few  years  ago 
the  championship  speed  in  typewriting  was 
around  80  words  a  minute;  to-day  it  is  about 
130  words  a  minute.  It  stayed  around  80 
words  a  minute  until  the  typewriter  com- 
panies became  interested  in  the  contests  as 
an  advertising  feature  of  their  machines, 
and  placed  experts  in  charge  of  the  training 
of  their  best  operators.  Then  the  speed 
jumped  to  over  100  words  a  minute  and 
every  year  it  goes  higher,  being  now  far 
beyond  what  was  believed  humanly  pos- 
sible a  few  years  ago. 

Take  the  case  of  the  girl  who  won  the 
Novice  Championship  in  Typewriting  last 
November.  Here  was  a  girl  who  began  the 
study  of  typewriting  in  the  regular  course 
at  a  high  school  thirteen  months  before  the 
contest.     She  made  the  remarkable  record 


112     The  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

of  114  words  a  minute,  which  is  far  in 
excess  of  the  championship  speeds  some 
years  ago.  What  is  more  striking  about 
this  record  is  this:  that  when  she  went  to 
the  office  of  the  typewriter  company  in 
February  she  was  writing  not  more  than 
35  words  a  minute.  Two  months  later  she 
wrote  78  words  a  minute  in  a  contest  at  the 
Business  Show  in  Boston.  I  have  been 
assured  by  the  gentleman  under  whose 
direction  she  was  trained  that  the  increase 
from  35  to  78  words  a  minute  in  less  than 
two  months  was  accomplished  simply 
through  the  elimination  of  two  bad  habits 
in  operating  which  she  had  acquired  in 
school.  Seven  months  later  she  won  the 
Novice  Contest  at  114  words  a  minute. 
This  was  accomplished  by  the  application 
of  the  efficiency  principles  I  have  already 
outlined,  followed  by  intensive  practice 
under  the  direction  of  a  man  who  had  made 
a  special  study  of  time  studies  and  motion 
studies.  Apply  these  principles  to  the 
study  of  shorthand  and  similar  results  will 
be  achieved. 

We  now  come  to  the  question  of  how 
the  plan  may  be  applied,  how  the  stu- 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand     113 

dent  may  be  trained  to  the  utmost 
facility  in  dealing  with  the  common 
material,  the  frequent  words  and  com- 
binations. I  believe  that  the  only  way 
to  do  this  is  to  give  systematic  short- 
hand penmanship  drill  in  connection 
with  the  daily  instruction  on  the  theory. 
This  should  be  supplemented  by  a 
drill  in  correct  position,  correct  methods 
of  handling  the  pen,  the  notebook,  and 
the  making  of  rapid  transitions  between 
words  or  phrases,  and  in  turning  the 
pages  of  the  notebook.  It  is  of  the 
very  greatest  importance  that  correct 
habits  be  established  at  the  beginning 
of  the  work. 

A  Lesson  from  Penmanship 

Here  I  should  like  to  direct  your  atten- 
tion to  the  great  change  that  has  taken 
place  in  the  teaching  of  penmanship.  Many 
of  you  will  remember  that  a  few  years  ago 
the  copybook  method  of  teaching  the  sub- 
ject was  in  almost  universal  use.  To-day 
in  the  best  schools  —  the  schools  that  are 


114    '^^^  Teaching  of  Shorthand 

getting  the  best  results  In  teaching  rapid 
business  writing  —  it  is  conspicuous  by  its 
absence.  The  old  copybook  plan  was  to 
set  an  engraved  copy  and  require  the  stu- 
dents to  imitate  it,  writing  the  copy  slowly 
and  painfully  in  a  circumscribed  space. 
There  was  no  freedom,  no  life  to  the  work, 
and  when  the  student  attempted  to  write 
without  a  copy  his  penmanship  became  a 
miserable  scrawl. 

It  is  a  singular  thing  that  while  the  copy- 
book method  is  almost  universally  con- 
demned by  up-to-date  teachers  of  ordinary 
penmanship,  the  copybook  method  of  teach- 
ing shorthand  is  still  being  followed  in  most 
schools. 

I  believe  that  as  much  of  this  train- 
ing as  possible  should  be  given  in  the 
form  of  dictation  because  this  will 
accustom  the  student  to  the  way  in 
which  he  will  apply  his  knowledge  of 
shorthand  in  actual  work.  It  will  stim- 
ulate him  to  write  quickly  and  unhes- 
itatingly. It  is  by  putting  the  student 
under  pressure  that  the  best  results 
are  accomplished. 


The  Teaching  of  Shorthand     115 

In  the  early  practice  there  is  need  of 
much  repetition  work,  as  it  is  from 
repetition  that  skill  is  acquired  in  any- 
thing. To  be  valuable  this  repetition 
work  must  be  made  interesting,  and  the 
way  to  make  it  interesting  is  to  give  it 
in  the  form  of  live,  enthusiastic,  inten- 
sive penmanship  drills,  supplemented  by 
actual  dictation. 

There  is  only  one  thing  needed  to 
effect  this  revolution  in  the  teaching 
of  shorthand,  and  that  is  a  real  appre- 
ciation of  its  value  by  teachers  and 
then  the  determination  to  carry  it  into 
effect.  Let  me  say  that  while  there  is 
no  more  interesting  subject  to  teach 
than  shorthand,  the  carrying  out  of 
the  plan  I  have  outlined  will  enhance 
the  interest  and  pleasure  of  the  work 
tenfold. 


ONE  MONTH  USE 

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NOV? 

liOV  1  9 


1976 


LD21- 


M- 


LD  21A-30m-5,'75 
(S5877L) 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


YB  36196 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


